Fairy Queen
by Dee Rhymz
Summary: When the 48 year old queen Anna-Marie discovers her shameful past is still very much alive in the minds of the people, she decides to use a standard invitation to a royal ball as an excuse to show up and brag, but quickly ends up in a hostage scene directed by a barbaric prince. NOTE: This story stars the genderbent version of Edd and Marie Kanker.
1. Anna-Marie

Once upon a time, there was an old queen. A most unfortunate lady, in every sense of the word.

As she didn't rule over any people, her kingdom and her status were considered a joke by all. While the land she lived in was a beautiful wilderness, it lacked life; there wasn't a single resident, besides the occasional bug, bird or fish.

Naturally, the other kings and queens thought this kingdom to be a waste of space, and they shared the same opinion about the land's queen. All the surrounding kingdoms had met many victorious battles, but they even skipped her on their quests for land and treasure. The queen could only be thankful, as she didn't have an army, either.

When she was still young and a candidate for marriage, all would turn a blind eye at her sight. Her parents' unimpressive reputation was a bad start for her, but she also happened to lack the physical appearance that would attract a young prince. When so many beautiful ladies would walk the planet, who would long for her? Some would call her skinny, others would be more kind and call her slender, but her bodyframe looked like there was not much effort needed to snap her in half. There were hardly any hips, there was hardly any chest, by far the biggest thing about her was her brain.  
In a world and a time were a woman's most important role in life was to give offspring to her husband, no one considered the meager queen for a bride. She, her kingdom, and family's reputation wasn't worth fusing two families for.

Eventually the queen's parents gave up and never attended a bonding ball again. Instead, they continued on teaching their daughter all about the world and encouraged her to be curious and smart.

Two years later, they passed away, and all the queen had left was herself. Even so, no one had forgotten her; she was still the "pathetic ruler" of the laughable Green Kingdom. For years she spent her days alone, in a small and old ruin of a castle that had no windows and no doors, without having seen another face.

Until one day, when an unusual visitor entered her kingdom with an unusual invitation.


	2. Once Upon An Invitation

_"Queen Anna-Marie!..Queen Anna-Marie!"_

The queen's eyes moved away from her odd experiments located on the wonky table in front of her, towards where the voice was coming from. Was someone calling her? She hadn't heard another person's voice in years, and no one had a reason to visit her. It was almost unlikely. She tried to process the current situation and its plausibility, but the voice called again, and this time sounded impatient.

_"QUEEN ANNA-MARIE, SHOW YOURSELF, PLEASE DO NOT DELAY MY DUTY."_ the voice shouted.

The queen jumped up from her chair and headed for the spiral staircase right away. She lifted up one side of her dress as she descended the steep and crooked steps. Someone was indeed calling her!  
Was she finally needed for something? Was there finally something she could do for someone? As strange as it felt to have an unannounced visitor, it was actually rather nice, even though the man sounded like he was in a hurry, not like a guest who was planning to stay for tea. Even so, his mere presence filled her with glee. She nearly floated down the stairs, till she reached an open hole in a wall, which was supposedly the entrance to her home. The place was quite run down, but it was how she remembered it. The weather in her kingdom was often nice and warm, so it didn't matter walls were missing.

In the door opening she saw a small and messy-looking man on a white horse. The horse had a purse attached to its saddle, and in it were many scrolls. The man was holding a scroll in his hand and reached it out to her as she approached him. It was not hard to figure out he was a delivery man.

_"Ha, queen Anna-Marie! So, you're still alive.."_ he said to her, as he forced a smile on his face.

_"Eh..Good day, sir.." _she replied.

It was quite an unusual greeting. She wasn't sure whether to feel insulted or to let the comment slide, but to have not expected it was foolish. The man was old enough to know who she was.

_"..Well, to business: I bring you this invitation." _he continued, _"Do with it as you wish. I am off."_

The queen grabbed the rolled up paper with a confused look on her face. She was actually invited to something? As the messenger rode off without having shared another word, she quickly called after him:  
_"Excuse me! Sir! Are you sure you're not mistaken?"_

_"My orders were 'every kingdom in the land', I don't bother with the details!"_ he called back. And with that, he disappeared in the distance.

She looked at the scroll in her hands. Upon taking a closer look, she saw it was a standard invitation and not actually directly addressed to her. It was quite sad she got so worked up over this, but anything was better than nothing, she guessed. She was curious what the invitation was about. Whatever was going on outside the borders of her kingdom had stayed a mystery to her for 30 years. What was important enough that they had to involve her?  
She gently opened the scroll and silently read the words to herself.

When she was done, her expression turned gloomy. This was clearly not addressed to her. She couldn't even accept this invitation if she wanted to.  
_It was an invitation to a royal bonding ball._ A ball for young princes and princesses, with the intention to match them up and unite kingdoms.

While she never married, she was still the rightful heir of her parents' throne and was no longer a princess, never mind that she had her time and was too old to marry a prince at this day and age. Neither did she have any children to give away. There was no point for her to go, and showing up would just be weird.

Was this invitation a joke, perhaps? A little something from the senders to mock her once more? She felt mocked. It reminded her of her hideous past, which was filled with rejection and shame. She remembered her mother being ashamed of her, especially. According to her, it was always her own fault nobody picked her. It's not helping a young girl's self-esteem, but she knew her mother simply had enough of being laughed at; she just wanted that little bit of hope, something to drag their family name out of the ditch. It was a sad thing it couldn't be their only daughter.

Her heart was aching as she looked at the paper in her hands. The memories nearly paralysed her.  
Why did things turn out so badly? She didn't deserve this life, she was always well-behaved, she knew everything about everything, and she never gave anyone less than her all. Yet here she was, stuck in a crumbling castle, counting her days away. What would her mother say if she was still here? Nothing worth thinking about if she valued the little bit of dignity she still had and needed to survive the days of solitude.

It was clear that the people's opinion about her had never changed, much like her life, as the messenger was all too eager to leave. He seemed to have trouble just calling her a "queen". They all still knew her name and past very well. She wondered "how well", though. Was it a yesterday's memory or a fuzzy myth?

The queen's eyes moved back to the scroll, and as she read the invitation once more, it suddenly hit her:

Why wouldn't she go?

Sure, she had no sons or daughters, but this was the first invitation given to her in 30 years. When would she ever get another opportunity like this? She had to show her face; if she could brag a little bit about herself and her kingdom, maybe it would stop the people from spreading stories about her. What did they know about her and her kingdom, really? Nobody ever visits her, she should be able to pull this off. She had to.  
Theoretically, she was still invited to this ball, and it was also the only opening ever offered to her to show herself and do something like this. She had to make her late parents proud of her somehow, but to just sit here alone, day in day out, creating technical constructions and performing experiments no one would be able to understand even if they happened to come across it wasn't doing anything to clear her name. Just how many princes was she able to swoon with her intellectual babble, anyway? This world didn't care about intelligence. She was not getting any younger, and the last thing she wanted before her passing was a regret this big.

It was decided. It was going to be tough, as she wasn't much of an actor and neither did she look or sound intimidating if she tried, but if she just showed her face in the most amazing outfit and kept her cool, maybe that would be enough. She didn't have to be friends with anybody, but the fact she was frowned upon by a delivery man after all these years ment it was time to spread a different story. The old shame that was known among the people had to disappear.

The queen ran back into the castle, up the spiral staircase leading to her room. She opened the only closet located in the small, round chamber and in it was a dress entirely covered with red glitter, and on the shelf above it a silver crown. So far she understood, the dress once belonged to her grandmother, from her father's side, and the crown was her mother's.  
She could never get herself to wear either objects, as she didn't feel it was something she deserved. Besides, who would be able to see it? It would've been an absolute waste to wear such a beautiful dress and crown for nothing. But now, these hidden items finally had a purpose. This was what was going to win back the respect her poor family had lost so many generations ago.

At least, she hoped so. But there was no room for doubt. She needed every bit of courage inside of her to do this, and as long she believed she could do it, half of the work was basically already done.

_"..This is going to be disastrous." _the queen muttered to herself.


	3. Once Upon A Ball

She didn't know how she did it, but she did it.

Exhausted, the queen slowly approached the huge castle mentioned in the invitation. Surrounding her were carriages and people on horseback, but she had neither, so was forced to walk the distance. It helped that this particular kingdom was nearby, but it was still not something she wanted to repeat anytime soon. She looked incredibly silly. Not exactly a good start of the evening, but the traveling guests were too invested in themselves to pay attention to the fancy-dressed lady strolling in the darkness. What a surprise.  
Eventually she reached the big castle entrance. The doors were kept open for all, and inside she saw an enormous room filled with kings, queens, servants, guards, and of course many princes and princesses. The young royalty were inhabiting the center of the room, given the full space to get acquainted with each other, while their parents were watching them from the side.

It was amazing how in all these years nothing had changed.

The queen tried to find the proper pose before going inside. The best she could come up with was holding her head up high and keeping her eyes straight forward. Wasn't that how all important people entered a room? Even so, she tried to enter quietly, not to demand all attention at once, but at least she wouldn't look like a scared little mouse in case someone did see and recognize her right away.  
The room was enormous, as for very yellow. There was a row of heavy pillars at every side, two big doors at the left and the right, and two hallways at the far end corners of the room. It was likely these hallways were being used for the servants. She didn't remember having been here before, but it certainly was one of the roomiest castles she ever saw. But the bright yellow colour of the stone and the many candles were not in her favour; her sparkling dress and crown were hard to ignore in the lit up room, filled with people who were dressed in fairly normal cloth. All heads turned to her and the music stopped. The queen stopped in her tracks as the stares were burning on her skin.  
Of course this cliché had to happen to her.

It was way too early for her to get buried like this, she knew she had to snap out of it and keep moving. She quickly avoided eye contact with the royalty and continued on walking, till she assigned herself a spot at the side. With all her might she tried to keep her face and spine straight. This was the ultimate test, this was the one moment she couldn't mess up.

_"Queen Anna-Marie? What a pointless surprise!"_ a king next to her yelled. Immediately the entire room laughed, and soon more comments followed.

_"Demented already? You know you have no kids, right?"_

_"Desperate for attention, like mom and dad.."_

_"Sorry, queen Anna-Marie, but I think you're a bit too old to marry my boy."_

_"Sorry, queen Anna-Marie, but I think you're a bit too old to marry my girl! Ha ha!"_

The queen's eyes widened. Every single person in the room was laughing at her. Even the children were laughing, those who shouldn't even know who she was. She'd been here for merely 5 seconds and the room was already upside down. Things were even worse than she expected, she didn't expect such an implausible reaction from a group of adults. Were they this bothered by her bachelorette life and her easy-going royal status?  
But she hadn't lost yet. The queen loudly cleared her throat, as an attempt to silence the room and allow her to explain herself.

_"Excuse me, but I was given an invitation, therefore I was expected!"_ the queen said with a stern voice.

_"Every loser in the land got this invitation, sweety, don't feel special!"_ the same king replied with a jolly voice.

She tried to stay calm as the nasty comments kept flying across her ears, but after a minute or two some of the laughing faces turned impatient. They had probably expected her to run away crying after being ridiculed by a castle full of people, but the queen didn't move, and it annoyed them. Their faces turned quite faul, as if they expected her "disgrace" to rub off on them by just being in the same room.  
She had to keep on doing this, she wanted to keep on doing this, but she wondered if she was still able to leave a positive impression with these people. They already didn't seem impressed. She didn't want to think she made a mistake coming, but was this a waste of time after all? Even though the queen was ready to cry, she could only tell herself that she could've expected this. While she didn't know how to respond to the insults, she could at least pretend she didn't hear them, and leave the ball when the room had quieted down and she was no longer interesting to them. At least then it wouldn't look like they won at chasing her away. She could cry when she was back home.

_"HAAA HAAA HAAA!"_ a gravelly voice suddenly echoed through the room.

Everybody stopped laughing and looked to their right, where the giant door had opened. They all seemed to know the person who performed the parody of laughter, but it didn't sound like anyone the queen knew. Which wasn't really that strange, she didn't know that many people to begin with and this person sounded fairly young.

_"I'm gone for five minutes and the party's already off to a good start! So, who's the guy that told this knee-slapper?" _the voice continued.

They all took a step back to make room for the new guest. Many of them had a cautious expression, but the queen wasn't sure what that meant. She tried her best to look past the people blocking her view, but couldn't see to whom the voice belonged. Though, it sounded like the voice came closer, so she'd know soon enough.

_"No one's gonna tell me this joke..? All laughing like you got feathers up your ass, but not sharing the fun with me? You people are such a tease!"_

Footsteps approached the crowd and the queen finally saw the person who the rude voice belonged to. It was a prince, around the age of 18, dressed in eery dark armor. He had blue messy hair, long enough to cover his right eye, pale skin, freckles, and a slightly muscular build.  
He was unlike the other princes in the room, who all had a clean cut and were dressed in colourful clothing. She couldn't say she was impressed by this prince's lack of care for himself. She imagined he'd look a whole lot more presentable with his hair brushed back, a proper shave, and perhaps a green suit made of silk. But well, she remembered her father making comments about her bad fashion taste, so maybe she should be the last person on Earth to give someone a makeover.

The boy started to kiss the hand of every queen he passed. He was quite the charmer. The women bowed and smiled at him as he did so.  
She wasn't quite sure why this one prince received the devoted attention of all these kings and queens, but he had to be from an important kingdom. Or maybe he was a very talented swordsman. Nevertheless, he was coming dangerously close, and if she would stay where she was now, he'd surely see her and probably recognize her as well. Now that the room was quiet, she longed for the silence to continue, and staying around for this boy to kiss her hand was probably not a good idea.  
It wasn't hard to figure out that the evening was a failure the moment she entered the castle. The only thing she learned from this experience was that things were too much out of control for her to fix. She just wasn't able to convince anyone by wearing a dress and a crown, and she wasn't too surprised by that conclusion. Now that she was done making a fool out of herself, there wasn't really a reason to prolong her stay. This unknown and loudmouthed prince certainly had no value to her. She was never too impressed by self-important people like him. But the people were quiet and distracted, this was the moment where she promised herself to leave. There was a cup of tea waiting for her at home, and she preferred going back to her old life over expanding this sad attempt. It's all it was, an attempt.

The queen looked at the boy, kissing his way towards her with a rather fast pace. She had no more time to think about it, anyway, she had to go right now. The queen turned around and slowly tried to sneak away unnoticed. Luckily for her, everyone was way too focussed on the prince to worry about her. Sadly enough, the prince noticed her before she was able to take a second step. Of course.

_"HOLD IT."_ he called. The queen froze. _"How rude..Were you about to walk away from me?"_

She swallowed. Urg. She should've turned around earlier, how could she think he wouldn't notice, he was just two queens away from her. There was no use to walk away now, she just had to keep on playing the game a bit longer, for her own dignity's sake.

She raised her head and slowly turned around. Then she spoke with a calm voice:  
_"Ah, yes..I apologize, adolescent prince, but I was indeed about to retreat from this occasion. It is an unfortunate cause of action, but do not take my unannounced departure personally."_

The prince stood there in silence. She had no idea what thoughts were running through his head, but he seemed mainly occupied with checking her out. She wasn't sure how to describe it more, his facial expression was hard to read. It just looked like he was trying to put the pieces together, but what kind of pieces, she had no idea. Did he have trouble recognizing who she was? Did he even know who she was?  
Suddenly it was like he came back to reality, and a huge smirk appeared on his face.

_"You talk weird."_ he replied.

_"Eh..hum, I know..Alright, now, if you will excuse me.." _she muttered, as she was about to turn around again.

_"What's the name, lady?"_ the prince suddenly asked.

The queen looked at him with surprise. So, he didn't know her? She was suddenly filled with confidence by this revelation, and stood before him looking prouder than a peacock. That was probably not a good idea in a room of people who knew better.

_"Dearest prince, I am queen Anna-Marie!"_ she said with a courageous voice.

_"From that shitty Green Kingdom?"_ the prince asked.

Well, shoot.

People around her started chuckling after the prince's reply, but before the crowd was able to drown itself in their own laughter again, he continued:  
_"You're a legend, you know. It's like the only story people know around here..about some grandma, who nobody wanted to bang, or marry..these guys don't even wanna kill you! Kinda boring legend." _he smiled, _"But you seem pleased with yourself. You like being boring?"_

She tried her best to keep it together, but to hear that your unfortunate life is a popular bedtime story was hard to bear. The guests looked very happy by how this young boy was burning her to the ground. It was like she was the main attraction at this ball, and every single person in the room had to walk up to her and insult her somehow. It was their right.  
The queen's face saddened.

_"Aw, baby. Don't give me that."_ the prince grinned, as he patted the old woman on the back.

While the room roared with laughter, a different emotion took over the queen. She was actually becoming angry. Angry with this boy, who came out of nowhere and was messing with her, a grown woman. Was she that pathetic, that even children think high of themselves in her presence? There was no civility to be found with these people; her sorrow was their entertainment, and it always had been. They were sadists.  
She no longer wanted to be polite, she just wanted to go home. At least she'd be alone and ignorant of the terrible jokes made about her.

_"Young prince, if you please!"_ she snapped at him, _"I have been ridiculed enough. I do not need you to make a fool out of me! Good day!"_

People gasped and the giggles stopped. The queen liked to think they were impressed by her burst of courage, but it was obvious their gasps were for someone else. Before the queen could again turn around and leave, the prince quickly grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him, forcing her to look into his bottomless black eyes.

_"You're not going anywhere, the party hasn't even started yet. You're gonna miss everything that way. You really want that, after all the trouble of coming here?" _he spoke in a strange and serious tone.

His words were threatening and direct, and judging by the looks on the faces in the crowd, she made a huge mistake talking back to him. But who was he that made everyone feel so on edge? Weren't they better off laughing at her, instead of gasping? She was the one being harassed here, not them. Since when did they care about her? They didn't, something else had to be playing.  
The prince kept the fragile woman firmly in his grip as he turned to the others:

_"Listen up, people! Tonight, you have to treat THE GREAT queen Anna-Marie with respect! She's totally serious business, and my guest of honour."_

Her face turned red in embarrassment. What? What was this about? What was he up to?  
While it hardly sounded sincere, the guests were taking it seriously for some reason. They looked very displeased. The queen doubted the prince's "kindness", so they were probably going to get rewarded by some big finale where they could laugh at her some more.

_"Anyone who talks shit about her is dead."_ the prince continued.

His follow-up actually did sound sincere. The moping crowd now looked worried, and silent muttering was to be heard. The queen looked up at the prince, who had that same smile still dominating his face. It made no sense, he was threatening an entire room of royalty, all with guards and soldiers, but they were just letting him. Sure, the prince scared her, but she was easily scared. What was their excuse?

_"My lady.."_ he said as he turned to the queen, _"I'll borrow you some of my guys to keep an eye on you. If someone's being a douche, go tell on them, my guards will take care of it, heh heh."_

_"What?..But, that's really not nece-"_

_"SURE IT IS, cause you wanna stay here and party with your friends." _the prince interrupted her, "_Cause, if you leave, you die. Or that's what I heard! So you'd better stay!" _

His smile turned bigger after his obvious death threat, and he then pushed her away from the exit. Two of his guards immediately positioned themselves behind her. It was certain, this was serious and she wasn't going anywhere. But why was it serious and why was she being held hostage? Was this her awkward punishment for talking back?  
What was the deal with anything around here?


	4. Once Upon A Death

Eventually the ball was forced to go on, despite the strange orders of the dubious prince.  
The same prince was now "mingling" with the princesses in the center of the room. It sure was a sight, as all the other princes were pushed aside and forced to watch the prince flirt with every single girl available. Apparently they weren't allowed to come anywhere near as long the prince was occupied with them. The queen witnessed quite some indecencies going on, but the voices behind her were encouraging it.  
The parents of these girls actually wanted them to marry this disgusting prince? Hands were going where they didn't need to be, and she could hear equally disturbing remarks from the prince's mouth, yet everyone was happy about it?

In the shadows she noticed another character, dressed in the same kind of extraordinary clothes as the prince, but with a whole lot more decoration. It was a man in his late 30s or early 40s, and he had a far from welcoming appearance. Considering all guests were parents with their children, this had to be the father of the prince. The boy and his father had a similar face, though the father had a bigger lower jaw and red hair. The queen couldn't decide who was more intimidating.  
His eyes were focussed on the princesses as well. It was outrageous as it was obvious, but nobody seemed concerned about it.

Who on Earth were these people?

She wasn't going to get any answers speculating things by herself, she just had to find the nerves to ask someone. It seemed like she was the only one who didn't get the gravity of the situation. Was there a good reason for her to be on her toes? Surely, she would like to know if she was in honest peril. The last thing she wanted to hear was that this whole scene was some kind of set-up with actors, specifically scripted to lure her out of her cave and tease her. It was a stretch, but she was willing to believe it. Everything was just so unreal about this scenario.

She approached a lady she recognized as queen Vivian of the Kingdom Vivian. Talk about an egomaniac. She remembered her very well from the past when they were both still princesses, but as expected, the golden-haired queen Vivian was less than pleased to see her.

_"Ah..queen Anna-Marie."_ she greeted her with a disinterested face.

_"Queen Vivian."_ the queen said as she gave her a bow, _"..I..em..require more information about that dark prince over there."_

_"..Are you serious?" _she replied.

_"Surely I wouldn't make this request if I weren't."_

_"Do you ever pay attention to the world around you..!" _she whispered angrily, _"That's prince Larie..He and king Bobby are from a faraway land, they've invaded the country not too long ago..!"_

_"Oh my!"_

_"They've already slaughtered two entire kingdoms like it was nothing..This king and his son are..I don't even know..!"_

_"Dear heavens..! Why are they at this ball..? Why aren't we joining our forces to stop them..!"_

_"Hush your mouth! Don't talk about that around his men!"_

_"..I apologize.."_

_"Their army is big enough to black out the sun..! That kid alone fights for 50 men..We all know they're going to invade our kingdoms and kill us, so we're all just trying to get them on our side before that happens. Everyone with a daughter is competing with each other to match her up with prince Larie, that's the only reason this ball was organized to begin with..!"_

The queen looked over to the kings and queens, watching their offspring from the side. So that's what was going on.  
This whole ball, with princes and princesses, of who most looked younger than the usual 16 years old, the unusually large crowd, the hasty invitation that even reached her; this whole bonding ball wasn't even supposed to happen. They just hastily arranged it for this prince.  
Knowing all this made the situation even more sad. Everybody in the room was fearing for their lives, and they were willing to give away their poor daughter's freedom, just to save their own kingdom. They were all hiding behind a face of fake glee. What a terrible ball this was.

Was it really worth it? Why didn't they just run if they weren't able to take on this king? Maybe it was just her mentality to run, that's the only option she'd have. She couldn't imagine herself selling her daughter to a brute of a prince, just to protect herself. But what did she know, really. Her kingdom had no people that needed protection from anything, and she had no daughter.  
She decided to let this subject slide, she didn't need to give queen Vivian the opportunity to bash her some more.

_"Why are they attacking us to begin with..?"_ the queen asked.

_"Because they get some kind of thrill out of taking lives for the heck of it? They never do anything with the land they've conquered..They never take any treasure or bribes, they don't care if you beg or cry, they just want you dead...and you better keep that in mind, 'queen' Anna-Marie.." _queen Vivian snarled.

_"..What is that supposed to mean?" _she answered confusedly.

_"You could've had us all killed with your ridiculous act! And I wouldn't stay comfortable, if I were you, the prince is probably going to tie up your corpse in a tree..!"_

_"I..didn't think-"_

_"What were you thinking, again wasting everyone's time like this, know when you're not wanted..!"_

_"I'm sorry, but I'm allowed to do what I desire, am I not?"_

_"No, you need to be a SOMEBODY for that, you pathetic wench!"_

After queen Vivian finished her insult, a heavy hand landed on her shoulder and pushed her down on the ground. The crowd surrounding them jumped up and gasped in surprise. The queen didn't hesitate and quickly jumped in front of the guard. As unpleasant as the conversation was, this action was uncalled for.

_"Sir, what are you doing!" _she hissed at him.

_"She insulted you." _the tall guard responded.

_"W-w-well, come on now, you still don't-"_

_"I have my orders, your highness!" _he interrupted her, and aimed his spear at queen Vivian.

_"WAIT." _the queen shrieked, _"She didn't do anything, we were just conversing, I can reassure you!"_

_"I know what I heard!" _the guard insisted.

_"But..it's up to me to decide whether or not I feel insulted, sir!" _the queen said with a stern voice, _"Now please step back! THAT is an order!" _

The fallen queen Vivian looked up at her, but didn't look grateful for her attempt to save her life. In fact, she looked at her as if she were insane. But the guard now appeared unsure about what to do next.

_"..Forgive me, your highness, but I think I need to consult the prince."_ he replied, and then grabbed queen Vivian and dragged her over to the prince, who was still busy doing what he did before.

The queen started sweating nervously. This was not going well. If the prince was indeed a tyrant, nothing good was going to happen in the next few seconds. It was true that the prince had demanded the death to anyone who would speak ill about her, even though she still questioned the honesty in that demand, but the guard looked like he was about to do it, so that said alot. There was no room to discard it; being wrong meant someone's death.  
She had to either convince the guard in his small travel time to the prince or convince the prince. She didn't want someone to die just because of the usage of a mere word, that was ridiculous. The queen quickly ran after the guard holding queen Vivian, and grabbed his cloak, trying to stop him in his tracks.

_"Please, sir, none of this is required! The prince is occupied, we don't have to cause a commotion over such a small issue!" _she stammered.

_"Prince Larie! Your majesty!" _the guard called, without regard for the begging queen.

_"No, stop it, I-I-I..command you?"_

But it was too late, the guard had received the attention of the prince, who looked displeased to be disturbed, but at the sight of the scared queen Vivian, was very willing to come over. The queen could hear the guard swallow as he properly positioned himself for the approaching prince. It seemed like he was making him nervous as well.

_"Prince Larie! This woman insulted queen Anna-Marie!"_ the guard informed him, and he threw queen Vivian onto the ground in front of the prince's feet.

_"Hm. Really now."_ the prince replied.

_"IT'S ALRIGHT! Quite alright! Quite alright, indeed, a misunderstanding, really!"_ the queen quickly jumped in.

The prince turned his head to the queen, but his expression was that of disinterest. His silence didn't motivate her to say much more, but what else could she do? The guard was not convinced by her reasoning, so the prince was the only person left to convince.

_"Er.." _she began, _"Well.."_

_"She called the queen a pathetic wench, your majesty."_ the guard interrupted her.

_"Oh?" _the prince replied.

_"And a nobody, your majesty."_

_"Ah." _the prince concluded.

_"She reminded the queen of her position in this land, your majesty."_

_"Hmm." _the prince nodded.

The queen looked at queen Vivian, again lying on the ground. She hadn't said a word all this time, neither had anyone else in the room. Why wasn't she trying to explain herself? If she and the queen would both tell the prince it was one big misunderstanding, then wouldn't that solve the problem? But for some reason she just gave up the moment she hit the floor. Not even her husband was saying anything to defend her, he was just standing back there, doing nothing besides putting on a concerned face. The queen couldn't believe these people, they did not even try!  
Well, what kind of person would she be if she just stood there and said nothing. This was easily solved! She knew exactly what to say, and she just had to hope that the prince would give her the chance to speak and be a bit more helpful than the guard. She took a deep breath and turned to the prince.

_"Young prince, this is n-"_

But before the queen could finish her sentence, the prince swiftly jammed a dagger into the bottom of queen Vivian's jaw, right into her head. The queen let out a loud scream.  
Unfazed, the prince removed his knife, and watched the lifeless body of queen Vivian slump onto the ground. Her husband started crying in the background, but didn't dare to get anywhere near his wife as long the prince was still there.  
The queen covered her mouth with both her hands, trying to stop herself from making any more noise, but her screams were now replaced with heavy breathing.

The way this boy killed a respected queen in front of everyone, without hesitation or regret..! He didn't even blink when he took her life, it meant nothing to him.  
Queen Vivian was right. She was very much right. The only way she could've been wrong was if the prince and his father were worse than she described, and that was a scary thought. There was no reason to doubt her to begin with, but the queen had hoped that her story was a slight exaggeration. After all, they were all together in a room, talking, drinking and dancing. But this was hardly a party. This was a messed up hostage scene and she walked right into it with her stupid head, just because she had to show up and brag. Why did she even want to show up and brag, it was nothing like her to do something like this. It was such a desperate move, and now she was stuck in an even more desperate situation because of it.  
What was going to happen to her? If the prince indeed planned to take her life after playing this mean game, what could she do to stop it? There was just her, and she was sure that none of the guests would stand up for her. None of them standed up for queen Vivian.

She started shivering at the sight of the dead woman on the ground and the smiling prince looking down on her. His face was filled with satisfaction. He then turned to the queen.

_"I did it! I solved the problem!"_ he proudly said.

She doubted he tried to act funny with the intention to "lighten up the mood". His comment just made him appear even more crazy.  
Without saying another word, the prince headed back to the princesses who were waiting for him. His guards picked up the dead body, and brought it outside. The queen had no idea what was going to happen with it, but she did not want to think about it. She had to get out of there.

The room was now filled with terrifying glares, but they were not aimed towards the prince.


	5. Once Upon A Dance

The first time out in 30 years, and this was what happened. Her family truly was cursed.  
She never believed in curses or the supernatural, but how was it that nothing ever went well for her? It was like every time she mingled with the outside world, things went out of control, and this ball just took the cake.

The evening turned back to normal frighteningly quick, excluding the exceptionally faul stares of every single person in the room. Why were they mad with her, what did she even do? It was probably not a good idea to talk about it, since two of the prince's guards were still following her around. They were loyal to their master, which didn't mean much good for everybody else. It was best to just quietly stand at the sideline and not let things escalate even more. If she behaved and didn't tempt anyone in the room to verbally attack her, it wouldn't give the prince much reason to act out, right? It was the only strategy she could come up with for the moment. She knew she'd be able to stay quiet, but she wasn't sure about the rest. Their eyes followed her, and she saw mouths moving. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but hoped the guards couldn't do so, either. She was not looking forward to another pointless murder.

The prince had continued grabbing the behinds of the princesses and sharing small talk with them, and the princesses looked completely fine with the brutal murder that had just happened. They acted like a bunch of giggling schoolgirls around him; they were trained very well by their parents and had completely accepted their possible terrible fate. But really, there was no difference between death or marrying a psychopath, there wouldn't be any "real" winner at the end of this ball.  
As much as the queen's parents trained her when growing up, she wondered if she would be able to pull off a schoolgirl act like that. Likely not. But it wouldn't have even mattered, as no prince ever gave her as much as a glance. All these princesses were beautiful and for men like honey to a bee, so they needed to be unconditionally charming for when they actually caught their attention.

Eventually the prince started calling girls over separately and danced with them. It surprised the queen he showed interest in the concept of marriage at all. He didn't look like the type of person who cared much for it, or a ball that exists for the sole purpose of being hooked up. Was he ready for such a commitment?  
King Bobby, who was still hiding in the shadows, was also calling princesses over. The queen frowned. It was very inappropriate, but again, their parents were silently cheering for them at the other side, so what could she say about it. Just that it was terrible.

The queen looked at the giant double doors behind her. The exit never looked so appealing. If she could just run for it, and leave this disgusting display behind, she'd promise herself never to ask for anything in her life ever again.  
The smell of queen Vivian's blood just wouldn't leave her nose, and it reminded her of the danger she was still in. Would the prince follow her if she managed to escape? He knew who she was and what kingdom she lived in, so it wouldn't be impossible for him to find her. If he planned to smite this whole land, then she wasn't safe to begin with. Nothing would ever be the same again, no matter what she did.

While she was longing for the exit, she noticed in the corner of her eyes that the prince's guards were watching her. Not just her own two personal guards, but all the guards who were stationed in the room. Some of them were shaking their head, as to tell her to not even think about it.  
Why her. Of all people.

The queen's feet were getting tired of standing, so she decided to look for a permanent place to sit down the rest of the evening. At the side where the princes were still grouped and waiting was a row of empty chairs. She didn't really want a seat that gave her such a good view of the shameless prince and his shameless father, but to look is a choice. She would just have to move away her head and count the seconds.  
The queen sat down and sighed. She wasn't any better than the rest of them. Here she was, doing nothing, just like them. She tried, but she simply did not leave an impression. Nobody ever listens to her, and now queen Vivian was dead.  
But before she could properly beat herself up over it, the prince suddenly gestured to her. What did he want now? She didn't want any more trouble, couldn't she just get through this horror in solitude? He was probably gesturing to someone else, anyway. At least, that's what she preferred. She didn't respond and instead looked away, but the prince started walking towards her. Oh God, no.

_"Having a blast on that chair, granny?"_ he asked.

There was no use in ignoring someone who was standing one foot away from you, so she looked up at him, and decided to give him a nervous smile.  
_"Oh. Hello, young prince..Yes, it's quite a thrill.."_ she replied.

_"Cool. Now get up, it's your time to dance with me!" _he said, and reached out his hand to her.

_"E-Excuse me? I'm sorry, but, I can do no such thing.." _she stammered.

_"Yeah, you can, get up."_

It was easy to think that this was another joke in the making. She saw the way he handled those girls on the dance floor. The last thing she wanted was to give the people around her more reason to boo her by letting herself get fondled by a teenager.

_"..It's..er..most inappropriate for a king or queen to engage in contact of this kind of nature with a prince or princess at an occasion like this, those are the rules..!" _the queen insisted.

_"You never married and never had a kid, right? You might as well be a princess, so, you have to dance with me."_

_"That's..not how it works.."_

That familiar smile was again on his face, and it made her question his intentions even more. Even though you would describe it as "familiar", it's not something that soothed her into accepting his offer. Though, it was hardly an offer and "no" was probably not an option. She just had to be polite and make up an excuse.

_"Please, I'm content with where I am. I am a woman of age, I become fatigued quite easily, you understand.." _she muttered.

_"Don't give me that! You got no horses or, Hell, anything, the only way you could've reached this crib was to power walk your skinny legs."_

He sure got her there.

_"Well..eh, I still am what I am..too old to accept. I apologize." _she stated, and placed her hands on her lap and closed her eyes, as to confirm the end of their conversation.

The prince rolled his eyes and smirked, then grabbed one of the queen's hands and pulled her up from the chair. To say he didn't care about her excuse was an understatement. She clumsily followed the prince as he dragged her along behind him.

_"No! Young prince! Please!" _she stammered.

_"Yes! Young prince! Please!"_ he laughed.

People watched the old queen being dragged onto the dance floor like a weightless ragdoll, begging. They couldn't believe they were witnessing another adult breaking the rules, but because it was queen Anna-Marie, it was worse. King Bobby especially looked shocked and disgusted. Whatever was going on in the prince's head, he was not aware of it.

_"Please, the spectators will misjudge us both, you need to release my hand..!" _the queen squeaked.

_"What I need to do is have a super-awesome-great time!"_

_"No, this has to-_

_"You worry too much, it's just a dance, babe!"_

_"But I cannot be considered a candidate, not even for the humor of it, these people will surely...I mean..they..."_

_"It's just a dance!"_

_"It's better if-"_

_"You look like you could use a dance!"_

_"Oh, sweetheart, really, I'm doing fine..!"_

The queen sucked in her lips. Did she just call this loose cannon of a boy, this terrorizer of people, "sweetheart"? What was she even thinking. She sounded just like her father back in the day, but it didn't make sense, she never had anyone around to even call "sweetheart". It was like a force of habit that was never a habit to begin with.  
While biting her tongue, she stared at the prince to see his reaction. He looked caught off-guard as well, but didn't appear angry or disturbed. Instead, his expression turned playful, and within half a second, the queen was greeted with a hand on her rear and a powerful squeeze.  
She let out a short, loud yelp.

_"EEK! YOUNG MAN, HOW D-"_

Before she could finish her sentence, she was carefully thinking about her next words. It wasn't wise to upset him in any way, but still, she wanted to express her disapproval. But eventually she just swallowed all words she had contemplated to say.  
It was hard to believe what had just happened. Did this teenager pinch the butt of a woman nearing her 50s? He looked like the type of guy who would do anything to make someone look bad, and she was the crown jewel of ridicule, so this must've been a field day for the boy. It sure helped that his reputation allowed him to act however he wanted to, so no one would dare to question him.  
Yes, indeed. Everything would be the queen's fault. Wasn't that just convenient.

And so it began: the guests started to murmur after the "disgraceful" display. Even the princes and princesses were complaining to each other. They did not look happy, at all, but the prince did a good job ignoring them and started leading the queen around the dance floor on the rhythm of the music.  
So, this was dancing. She preferred her first time to have been with someone she actually, you know, liked, and at a moment less stressful than this, but it couldn't be helped.

_"How've they been to you?" _the prince asked.

_"Euh?"_

_"I'm talking about these punks."_ the prince swung his head towards the eyeballing crowd, _"How've they been treating you so far, making lotsa friends now, I bet?"_

_"...Well, I'm not here to start friendships, I came here..out of pure curiosity for the procedure! I like to compare the changes since last time I attended a bonding ball."_ the queen smiled clumsily.

_"Cute, but that's not what I asked."_

The queen cleared her throat upon his reply. She knew that wasn't his question, but what else was there to say besides that everybody hated her? If the prince was familiar with her background, then he knew the answer already. Besides, she didn't feel like talking about herself to this prince. This was not the time to get cosy with each other.

As she and the prince moved around the room, the murmurs were getting louder. Even so, people were apparently still watching their choice of words, as none of the prince's guards acted up.  
The queen's head turned redder than fire. She didn't want them to think she was actually interested in this child, especially not in a setting where they were competing each other in order to stay alive. She didn't come here to mock them or take away their last shred of sad hope. It was no surprise they were getting angry with her, and the last thing she wanted was the title of "boy hunter", besides all the other filth they'd been throwing at her.  
When the murmurs were getting loud enough for her to actually understand them, she figured it was time for the dance to come to an end. By not letting things escalate, it also included keeping the crowd satisfied, not just the prince.  
She forced the prince to stop by standing still and quietly spoke:

_"Um. I wholeheartedly thank you for this dance, but I think I'm going to return to my seat."_

She tried to release her hand from the prince's, but the prince had a firm grip, and pushed her against his body with the hand that was still located where it didn't need to be.  
_"And I think I didn't give you my permission to leave." _he growled.

The queen looked at him with a concerned face, but she didn't expect the prince to get swayed by her pouting. He had greater things to worry about than having scared a sad little senile woman.  
It was scary to make eye contact with him, especially when he had no real facial expression going on. His black, seemingly pupilless eyes were locked onto hers, as if he was fighting a battle of dominance with her. Whoever looked away first, lost.  
But if there was anything her parents taught her, it was to make eye contact as long you were engaged in a conversation with someone. They believed it was a sign of respect; that you were actually paying attention. Meanwhile, other families believed females should never make eye contact with a man, and taught those men to be offended whenever a woman looks them in the eyes. Not very helpful to have so many different cultures living right next to each other.

Even so, the prince didn't say anything, neither did it look he was going to say anything any time soon. Was he waiting for her to say something? Whether or not he was one of those "other families" was also hard to determine. Either way, making eye contact with him for so long felt like a waste, so the queen tried to find her courage and made an attempt to save the situation from any nasty endings. She didn't want a knife in her head just because she wanted to rest her feet and mind.  
While maintaining eye contact, she spoke to him in her most humble voice.

_"Forgive my hasty decision, to offend you and your..benevolence was not my intention.."_

The queen awaited his response, but nothing came. Was he about to attack her? What else could she say to him? She tried her best to think of more well-worded apologies and flattery before it was too late, but surely enough, the prince's face started changing.  
His expression turned relaxed and he now gave her a satisfied smile. She wondered if the boy actually knew what "benevolence" meant, but he was charmed, so why ruin the moment by asking him. Even so, the queen's body was still tense, as she not yet excluded a surprise stab from the prince's dagger. But well, she'd be dead before her brain could even comprehend the situation and offer her the emotion "surprised".

_"Heh heh, babyyyyy, relax your little buns!"_ the prince then said cheerfully, _"Go sit down if you wanna, whatever."_


	6. Once Upon A Reflection

And as simple as that, the queen was excused. No knife, no more words, she was released from his grip and allowed to leave.

She looked at him over her shoulder as she headed back to her chair. He wasn't looking at her anymore, and had continued on inviting the next princess over to dance. She did it, she escaped death.  
Her heart was still beating in her chest and her legs were shaking. It felt like she was going to faint at any moment, but she managed to reach the chair and calm herself the best she could. She was not looking forward to the conclusion of this evening. Hopefully the boy did know mercy and would just let her go. One fact remained: As soon she got home, she had to pack little stuff she had and leave the country. It was safe to assume the prince's plans to ramsack the land was still on the table. It made her sad to leave her place of birth, but she was assured that her death would upset her more.

She looked around the room. She wondered how many people had the same idea as her. Surely, they wouldn't all just stay around and let themselves get slaughtered? Or was her position considered that of a lowly coward?  
If she had an army to command, she wouldn't say "no" to a team-up, but this wasn't the case. She was alone. She wondered if her cooperation would've mattered, though. Hardly anyone cared about what she did, and in this case, what would she prove by staying? Nobody would be impressed by that; she was unredeemable to these people. She learned that again after 30 years. How did she even forget in the first place.

Slowly but surely, the ball started to look civilized again. Except for king Bobby now letting princesses sit on his lap. She was thankful the man was merely talking to these ladies, as the imagery was bad enough the way it was.  
It was no surprise the prince acted the way he did, as was hard to expect anything else with such a father. She stared at the king with disapproval, but when the king's eyes met hers, she quickly looked away. No need to start another fight, who knows what tricks he had up his sleeve. He hadn't said a word the entire evening or gotten up from his chair, he had revealed nothing about his personality. It made her even more tense.  
She decided to watch the prince again, but he also saw her looking, and responded by winking. It was interesting she knew he was winking, as one of his eyes were covered by his hair, after all, but it wasn't something she desired to receive from him. The queen again moved her eyes away, but could still see the princess the prince was dancing with look back at her in the corner of her eyes. The last thing you want as a young and attractive lady is your possible future husband to wink at not young and attractive ladies, and that's fair enough.  
There weren't any more things for the queen to focus on, as the angry eyes were still ruling the place, so she decided to look at the floor. There were no angry or intimidating stares there. Just a beautiful polished yellow floor, partly covered by her red dress. The floor perfectly showed her reflection and it reminded her of something noticeable.

It was the first time she saw herself again after these same 30 years.

There were no mirrors in her castle. She never needed them, since her parents would always help her get dressed for the bonding balls they attended, and afterwards she just dressed herself and combed her hair by feeling. The only place she was able to see how she looked was at a ball like this one.

The queen looked at the woman staring back at her in the floor. Oh, how time had flown.  
She had long black hair, but it was all neatly tied in a high knot, and on her head was a giant silver crown, gracefully resting. She wore a long dress, entirely made of red glitter, and attached to her wrists and hands was a long piece of red cloth, of which the ends were attached to the back of her dress. Her neck was entirely hidden by a tall, white collar, and in the middle was a beautiful blue, oval-shaped emerald. There was one round cyan earring to be found in both ears, which was up to debate whether it matched the rest of her outfit. But these earrings were her father's favourite, and that's all what mattered.  
The clothes were surely beautiful and familiar, but the woman was almost a stranger. She was very slender and she had rather sharp features in her face. She didn't remember having that when she was younger, but now she looked alot like her father. Her eyelashes were still thick and long, and she still had that gap inbetween her teeth, but her eyes looked like a brighter shade of green than before. Or maybe that's because of the floor and lighting.  
Unavoidable were the wrinkles in her face. While she was not yet greying and looked as healthy as her body allowed itself to look, she couldn't deny this change. She knew she wouldn't stay 18 forever, but to have spent so many years alone and to then see yourself back after all that time of nothing, it almost made her pity herself.

The queen raised her head, she didn't want to look at herself anymore. In comparison, she preferred the angry stares. She never realized it was such a good thing to not have mirrors around. It saves you from alot of grief and self-loathing.

The queen took a quick glance at the prince, who wasn't looking too entertained himself for some reason. The princess he was dancing with was doing the word, even from the back she could see that, but whatever she was talking about, the prince didn't want to hear it. Hopefully the princess was clever enough to turn the conversation around, but surely a girl trained to please knew what to do.  
The queen sighed. Maybe she had to realise that not every meeting with the prince would end up in a disaster, she was probably just stressing herself out.

But before she could think of more reassuring things to tell herself, the prince threw the young girl onto the hard floor and drew his dagger.


	7. Once Upon One Sad Victory

_"YOU TRASHY BITCH!" _the prince shouted.

Oh please, no. Not again. She didn't want to believe it was going to happen, but just like that, her deepest fears were spot on. Everyone else also knew what was going to happen, but this time, someone stepped forward for a change. The queen saw the princess' distressed mother run towards her child with tears in her eyes. Behind her was the father, calling after her, but he stopped halfway.

_"PLEASE, MAJESTY, PLEASE SPARE MY DAUGHTER!"_ the woman cried, as she sprinted for the princess. But the prince increased the speed in his walk, and managed to run into and decapitate the woman with one swift movement of his dagger, before she was able to reach the floored girl. Loud gasps filled the room.

_"MY WIFE!"_ her husband cried.

_"MOM!"_ the princess followed.

The prince gave both of them a stare, as a warning to stay put and not say anything more, but the grieving king couldn't still his tongue:  
_"Why, prince Larie...why have you taken the life of my dearest wife! She was merely begging for the life of our child, how is that unreasonable, tell me why!"_ he sobbed.

_"YOU THINK YOU'RE SUCH TOUGH SHIT I NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF TO YOU?"_ the prince roared, _"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!"_

The prince raised his foot and landed it onto the head of the crying princess still lying on the floor. The brute landing created an unpleasant noise and blood spilled onto the floor. It looked like she severely broke her nose, and the once beautiful princess was now an unidentifiable mess. Her screams of agony were so powerful, it made everybody cringe.

_"Prince Larie..oh Lord!..Oh, great prince, mercy! Please!...Please.."_ the king continued, as he dropped himself on his knees, _"Let us go, we won't anger you any further, that is the promise of a king!"_

The queen watched the broken family before her with empathy. There was nothing to be said that this gruesome image didn't say for itself. An abused girl, lying on the ground, not far from her poor beheaded mother, and the father, a proud and strong king, giving up his dignity to save the only person now left in his life. And then there was the blue-haired beast dressed in dark, towering over them.  
The queen could only feel relieved by the king's decision to apologize and play onto the prince's ego. Surely he had to spare them now; he did the same for her on the dance floor. If sucking up to the boy ment he'd show mercy, then that was the only option. "Let him know he's great, let him know he's good" is what her mother always said.

While the king was still bowed down before the prince, begging for his daughter's life, the prince just looked at his reflection in the bloody knife and grinned.  
_"King?..You're hardly a fucking king."_ he said. He then raised his dagger, and with great force, he threw it into the head of the floored princess. The blade was heard piercing through the floor.

_"FEY! MY FEY!"_ the king shrieked.

The prince laughed and spreaded out his arms as he turned to the panicking king.  
_"WHATCHA GONNA DO, LITTLE BITCH?" _he yelled.

She couldn't believe this! He didn't even consider listening to the king and sparing his daughter, his mind was already made up the moment he threw the girl onto the floor.  
People were again in a state of immobilizing fear. How could so many people feel so powerless against one boy? The queen's face was filled with absolute repulsion, she couldn't take this anymore. Being in the same room as this psychopath was enough to make her feel dirty. She didn't want to sit and twiddle her thumbs anymore, watching the tortured king just broke her heart. People had to know this was not alright and that she was not a coward! They had to know that Queen Vivian was not her doing, she did not want to dance with the prince, and shewas on their side.

She quickly stood up and ran up to the prince, who was heading for his last kill. Before him, she fell to her knees, much like the king.  
_"Young prince, please! Leave this broken king be, he gently requested your mercy!" _she spoke.

The prince stopped in his tracks and watched the old woman sitting at his feet. Some of the guests were already squinting their eyes, as to prepare themselves for her blood to get splattered all over the room.  
The prince was silent for a few seconds and then pointed his disgusting knife at her.

_"Why the Hell should I listen to you.." _he growled.

The queen did her best to avoid the blood that was dripping from his knife, but knew it was better to spend that time coming up with a life-saving answer. The prince looked like he was playing that same game with her as before, and stared right into her eyes. Oh, she wished she could look away, but this was not the time. She had to keep on talking, she had to convince him to use that last bit of humanity left in him. If that last bit was actually still there. The answer to that question worried her, but she had to do whatever it took. She had promised herself to not witness another murder and that promise was already broken.

_"Whatever it takes, I'll do whatever it takes, just stop torturing this man!" _she replied.

_"Whatever it takes? What do you even have that I could take?"_ the prince smirked.

_"I...euh..I..I..I.." _she stuttered, _"..I give you my entire kingdom!"_

_"Seriously!? You don't own anything!" _he chuckled.

_"But it's all I possess! Please, young prince, consider my kingdom for this man's safety!"_

_"Your kingdom is shit, what about that you don't get!"_

_"But it's all I possess in this life! Take it!" _she begged.

The prince switched eyes from her to the king and back. He didn't look impressed by the offer, but nevertheless, he rolled his eyes and placed his dagger back in its holder.  
_"Really, now you're just wasting my time, grandma." _he said, _"But whatever, I don't even care anymore, let the dumbass live and suffer."  
_  
The queen let out a quiet sigh of relief, but the prince appeared to not be done yet. He turned to the others:  
_"..Don't think this little skank didn't deserve it! I told you what was gonna happen when you're talking shit about old queeny here, and really, it's a pretty damn simple rule!"  
_  
The prince then turned around and headed back to the other princesses, like nothing had happened. The princesses greeted him with the same mentality.

The queen stiffened. She was too terrified to turn around in order to collect the reactions to what was just said. The prince just slaughtered two people, because this princess made a negative comment about her? Was that the reason for this unholy display? Was she the reason for this unholy display? This was the last thing she wanted to hear, as if the guilt over Queen Vivian wasn't bad enough. Now the others were really going to want her head on a silver platter.

It was hard to think that the slaughtering of others was still part of her "punishment".


	8. Once Upon A Choice

Just when was this Hell going to end.

The deaths of the victims were engraved in her mind; these were things she could never unsee, but to be still in the room with the ticking timebomb itself was even less comforting. His guards had not once left her out of their sight, so the chance of escape stayed nihil. Unless she wanted her life taken away as well. Her pathetic existence was still entertaining the prince, which was the only reason she wasn't offed yet. She didn't stop being thankful for that, but her awkward luck had to run out sometime.

The prince was no longer on the dance floor, which allowed the princes to finally take their chance with the girls. He was now in a heavy discussion with his shadowy father. It looked like king Bobby was scolding his son for something, like real fathers tend to do, but it was hard to determine if that was actually the case, as the prince's face was filled with glee. He did not look scolded to. It could've applied to the situation that had previously occurred, though would the king really be upset about the deaths performed by the prince? It wouldn't make much sense if he was, quite honestly, he had already proven he didn't value life any more than his son when he sent his armies out to kill.

It was strange to think she had stayed at the ball the full 4 hours, it felt shorter with all the commotion that occurred. But the event came to a near close, which meant that the princes would all take their turn and choose a princess for marriage. This based on their rank, so prince Larie was probably going to be first to choose. And afterwards..who knows what afterwards. Hopefully everyone goes home afterwards, safe and well.

Suddenly the horns sounded, which successfully startled the queen, and all princesses formed into a perfect straight line. It appeared like they sped things up and just wanted to get rid of the prince already. She couldn't blame them.  
As expected, the prince walked up to them first.

There were at least two girls in the row that had caught his attention, and the queen remembered him really enjoying himself with these young ladies. There was alot of flirting and laughter that came from both sides, and even now the two girls gave him their sweetest smile as the prince passed them by. But the queen doubted they were truly in love with him, as flawless as their act was. They were just doing their job, and they were good at it. The parents of said two girls looked so happy, they could've died on the spot.  
Really, it's the little things. Little things, like having to present your daughter to a life of misery in order to not get burned to the ground, and winning the game.

When looking at the prince, who returned his own version of a sweet smile, she couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. The queen wanted to think that everyone deserved love, and maybe she still did believe in this fairy tale mentality, but she knew this hellspawn of a child would never find anyone who would allow themselves to fall for him. Everyone who knew him was just too afraid of him, and rightfully so. He was simply not deserving of love, only fear.

The queen started straightening her dress, preparing herself for the big finale of getting the Hell out of there, but the prince was taking his sweet time strolling past the girls. Sure, there were alot of them, but it almost looked like the prince hadn't actually narrowed them down yet. Even so, he had no connection with the last half of girls he was sluggishly passing by, so that considered, it could've also been the case he was just wasting time, letting everybody suffer under his presence even longer.  
Eventually the row of girls came to an end, but the prince still kept on walking. All eyes followed him, but no one dared to ask where he was going. Even king Bobby looked confused.

He kept on walking a straight line, but then finally stood still, and looked down at his choice.

The queen looked up at him.

_He wouldn't.  
_  
Before she could repeat her old trick and move her head away, the prince spoke to her:  
_"Get up, baby, you're coming with me!"_

The crowd could not contain themselves anymore, and an uproar started. Drenched in embarrassment and shock, the queen rolled herself up in a ball as the angry words started flying across the room. This could not really be happening! Please, let him just kill her instead!

_"Prince, how could you do this to us! QUEEN ANNA-MARIE?!"_

_"This is an outrage, it's forbidden to marry a king or queen! This is a bonding ball!"_

_"She must've given herself to the prince when we weren't looking!"_

_"We knew you were up to something!"_

_"How dare you bribe a prince!"_

_"You have doomed my family! You don't even have a family to protect!"_

_"Going after young princes out of frustation, I'm not surprised!"_

_"Prince, her kingdom has nothing, we have the most treasure!"_

_"Our army is the biggest!"_

_"Prince Larie, you have to marry our daughter, we have the most cattle!"_

_"No, take my daughter, she is obedient!"_

_"Take my daughter, she loves you!"_

The queen's eyes started to water. While the prince was questioned for his choice in general, she was called a pedofile, manipulator and a prostitute who traded her body for safety. How could they even say this about her, she had never done something as despicable like this! How could they assume that a woman of her posture and her age was even able to swoon a teenager! It was impossible! Even if she had the capability to charm him, she wouldn't take the self-damning route of offering herself for marriage, she would just flee the country and never return! Like she already planned to do!

She didn't want him, it was wrong. She had no interest in being the toy of an egocentric and short-fused child, deprived of all empathy. These princesses could go ahead and have him! If the prince was serious about his choice, she had to talk him out of it.

_"Young prince, don't do this..!"_ the queen squeaked, _"My life is half over, I am not suitable for marriage, you have to choose one of the ladies..!"_

_"I already chose my lady, now stand up!" _the prince said cheerfully.

_"But why..! There's nothing I can give you..!"_

_"Stand up!"_

_"If you are honest in your decision, then you have made a humongous error, but you can still go to the girls..!"_

_"Stand up!"_

_"T-T-They are young, just like you! They are capable of giving you all that you need and desire, but I c-"_

_"STAND UP!"_

_"But, sweetheart! Can't you see these people are right! I simply cannot come with you, and I shouldn't!"  
_  
Again the queen found herself biting her tongue after her repeated slip of the mouth, but luckily she was tagged off by the prince's father, who walked up to them with a head red of rage.  
_"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, LARIE! DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THAT HAG!" _king Bobby roared with a powerful voice.

_"But, dad, we're engaged, that would be so weird."_

_"This ancient stick insect is probably older than I am! How is she gonna bear you any sons! Fuck, look at her, if she was young, how she gonna bear you STRONG sons! Is our family a joke to you!?"_

_"Dude, you know it's my genes that'll do all the work, she'll do fine."_

_"BUT SHE'S STILL TWO DAYS AWAY FROM MENOPAUSE, YOU IDIOT."_

_"Hey." _the prince turned to the queen, _"How's your menopause doing."_

_"Eh.."_ The queen mumbled nervously.

_"See, looks like she's still got some shots left in her." _he shrugged.

_"Why would you give yourself to this gingerbread house witch! You're 18! It's making me sick!" _the king snarled.

Nonchalant as he acted towards his father at first, the prince's toothy grin transformed into a furious frown.  
_"Go fuck a shark in the mouth, dad! This is my wife now, and you fucking treat her with respect, or I'll end you! I'll fucking end you!" _the prince roared.

With that, the king went quiet. He looked like he was about to burst in flames, but at the same time, something prevented him to slap his disobedient son in the face. He just turned around and headed for the exit, with the guards following him. It was a strange sight to see such a tough-looking man being chased away by his own son. She certainly expected more effort from him.  
When the king was gone, the prince's face was reunited with his trademark smile.

_"Great! I guess we're leaving. You're gonna like your new home."_

_"..What are you doing this for, your kingdom will gain less than nothing by marrying me..! Pick these girls!" _the queen begged.

_"It's going to be a long trip.."_ the prince said, as he grabbed the queen by her hand.

_"Pick these girls!"_

_"..so, we're probably gonna crash in this other castle first.."_ he continued, as he dragged her towards the exit.

_"Young prince, pick these girls!"_

_"..it looks like shit, since we just killed the weenies living there.." _he explained, while he placed her upon his horse's saddle.

_"Pick these girls!"_

_"..but whatever, I know it's better than your place."_ he chuckled, as he sat himself down behind her.

_"Please, pick the girls!"_

_"AND OFF WE GO!" _the prince cheered, as they rode off.

Never before it felt so pointless talking to someone, this boy simply did not want to hear her. And now she was sitting on his horse, with no return. How did this happen?

The queen looked back at the guests watching them ride off at the entrance. There were actually people crying. She realised it didn't even matter if they believed her or not; fact was that she "won" their little competition with zero effort or intention, and it meant the death of all of them and everyone they loved. It didn't make any sense, this prince had no reason to marry her. Nobody ever had a reason to marry her, yet here she was. All of it had to be a joke.  
It wouldn't surprise her if he only married her to spread irritation all around. It wouldn't surprise her if he'd still kill her later that night, and disposed her body where she would never be found again. Who would ever check if they ever got married or not? Not those who would end up dead, anyway. Anything could still happen to her at this point.  
Yet it was amazing how accepting a simple invitation ended her up on the horse of a stranger. A dangerous stranger, of course, because when things went badly for her, they went beyond bad.

The horse started galloping, and it became impossible for the scrawny queen to stay put on the saddle. Nice, that was exactly what she needed as well. Looking at the woman bouncing all over the place, the prince could hardly contain his laughter.

_"Oh-oh-oh, dea-ea-ea-ea-r H-H-Heavens-s-s! C-C-Could you-you-you de-de-de-decelerate a bit?"_ she asked with panic in her voice.

_"No can do! We need to keep on going, otherwise we'll never get home."_ the prince replied.

She couldn't remember the last time she sat on a horse. Or the first time. Concerning these kind of things, her parents always taught her the theory, but they never owned horses to go any further than that. But her lack of skill was hardly the reason, she was just too light and her legs weren't strong enough to help her stay put.  
In desperation she wrapped her arms around the prince's neck, as he was the only sturdy thing on the horse. She'd rather not touch him, but he appeared fine with the woman holding onto her dear life using his neck. He thought it all to be funny, but the awkward display on the horse increased king Bobby's scowl. Really now, it wasn't exactly a romantic embrace, so what was there to scowl about?

Oh, right. Your son was going to marry a woman who could've been his mother.  
Considering this was medieval times, grandmother.

It was quite something how nobody was satisfied with this boy's decision. The day ended with everybody being upset. The question was if he himself was really that satisfied, since he had to ditch two beautiful princesses just to perform this mean prank on everybody. There simply was no competition between her and them, the princesses were the better choice. But to have gone for the "hag" was the sign of..devotion, she guessed. It was one of the prince's obvious character traits, as he didn't lie when he said he'd kill everyone who'd badmouth her, and he kept that promise well, despite of the guests rebelling against it. But she didn't think she'd end up marrying him, that was certainly not her goal of the evening.

But all of this did not change her original plan. She had to escape as soon as possible.


	9. Once Upon A Night

It felt like they had been riding for hours, but none of the men looked even slightly drowsy. The queen on the other hand, was struggling between dozing off, and likely falling off the horse, or torturing herself by staying awake so she could actually keep holding onto the prince. Neither were a satisfying option. She wanted to shut her eyes for a while, but she also liked to keep her hip intact.  
During the trip she had thought of all kinds of scenarios that would allow her to escape, but she wasn't able to figure out anything definite. After all, she didn't know where they were going to, what the place looked like, or what the prince was planning to do with her. If they were going to stop at a cliff and dump her in it, then there wasn't much use in planning anything.

She kept wondering what would've happened if she succeeded escaping before all this and had left the country. Maybe she would had come across an innocent little village where she could've lived in peace, together with new faces who would all give her, the traveling stranger, a chance to build up a fresh start within their community. Oh, what a precious ending that would've been.  
Why didn't she come up with this plan earlier? She didn't need to get threatened by a murderous prince, she was always dreaming of a better life. But she was just so stuck in her current life, it never occurred to her to run from it. And depending on what would happen to her later that night, it was too late to start this new life.

It went without saying that the thinking and worrying had worn her out fast, and she could hardly keep her eyes open anymore. It was quite something to fall asleep on the lap of the monster, but it was not like she didn't try her best to resist. The strength in her arms was slowly slipping away from her, and she again started to get launched into the air by the horse's movements.  
She then felt an arm sliding across her chest, lowering to her waste, holding her tightly against the body behind her.

_"We're almost there, babe."_

If it happened at any other time, in any other situation, she'd be telling him it was inappropriate to slide one's hand over a lady's bosom, but she rather took the opportunity to let go of him. She didn't really want to start a conversation with him, anyway. Silence was a sign of civilized disapproval.  
When she released herself, her eyes already started to feel heavier, and she quickly dozed off.

After a short nap she felt the horse slowing down, and when she opened her eyes, she saw they were standing in front of a big castle. She actually knew to whom the castle belonged to. They weren't exactly nice people, but really, who was nice around here. Even so, knowing didn't make her feel any better, any life lost was a waste.  
The castle's bridge looked like an absolute mess. There were still corpses lying around, penetrated with their own weapons, and the once grey bridge stones were now mainly covered with red. The bodies were so mauled beyond recognition, it was hard to determine how long they've been dead.  
The queen covered her mouth and closed her eyes as they came closer to the bloodslaughter. It smelled like you would expect, but the prince and his guards didn't appear to be fazed by the stinging smell of death. What a nasty thing to get used to.  
The horses were parked in front of the entrance, between the corpses no less, and all men descended. The prince got off first, picked up the small-weight woman from his horse, and gently placed her onto the ground.

_"Go make yourself pretty and wait for me in our room. It's up the stairs, left." _he said.

This wasn't good, but there was also no way to escape. The guards immediately started positioning themselves all across the the bridge and inside the castle building. There was only one path free for her to go, and it leaded up the stairs, left. Hesitantly, she entered the castle. The inside wasn't much better than the outside, but it looked like the guards had moved most corpses to another room, judging by the blood swipes on the floor. Now their eyes were watching her, making sure she'd take the path they created for her, by the orders of the prince.  
There was no choice but to go up these stone steps.

When she reached the room, she quickly closed the door behind her, as if that would keep everyone outside. Unlike the rest of the castle, this room was clean and completely intact. Thank Heavens for that.  
As it wasn't exactly a large room, it must've been the bed chamber of one of the previous servants. Its simple design was rather endearing. But really, what did she have to say about it, it already had more class than her entire home.

She looked around, but wasn't sure what to do next. She didn't want to sit on the bed, for obvious reasons, but there weren't any chairs for her to rest on. There was an open wall on the right, which led to what looked like a washing room, for clothes and people, oddly enough. A bath would do her good, but she didn't want to give the prince the wrong idea and create any opportunities that would give the same result as sitting on the bed. If the prince was alright with performing sexual harassment in public, then who knew what he'd do in a closed room.  
Other than the few cupboards and dressers, there was a tiny window next to the bed. If it was an open window, then she'd probably be able to squeeze through there. Though, considering she had to go up quite some steps to reach this room, the drop would likely kill her. But if the drop didn't do it, who says the prince wouldn't axe her.

She wished she could just sit down with the boy and ask him why everything that happened today happened. If he'd be honest with her, she wouldn't get mad or upset; he was allowed to tell her she was just being used for a joke. She just wanted to be enlightened. It felt so bad not being able to figure it out, it was in her nature to want to know the "why" and "how" of everything. But then some teenage boy comes along, and he proved to be the biggest mystery in life she encountered so far. And of course there was the issue that her cluelessness made her overly cautious, and caused her to make up wild stuff.

But now here she was, in a room, alive, and she just wasn't able to determine the amount of danger she was in. It drove her mad.

A few minutes passed, and the queen started to feel tired again. There was nothing she could do as long she was in this room, she had to wait for the prince to come back.  
In her bored state she walked up to the bed and decided to lie down, anyway. She couldn't keep standing up much longer, she had to get her feet off the floor. She placed her heavy crown on the nightstand next to her, but that was all she was willing to remove. Hopefully she had fallen into a deep sleep before the prince would show up, and he'd leave her alone. Or he'd just painlessly kill her, if that was his intention. Both scenarios were wishful thinking, really. It would frighten her more if all this was serious.

Lying on an actual bed after such a long journey on horseback sure was relaxing, despite the position she was in. She felt herself slowly drift away, but before her eyelids were fully closed, a loud voice was heard coming from downstairs.

_"You little shit, if you ever make a fool out of me in public again..!"_ a deep and angry voice threatened.

_"Surprise me. What."_ a calm and gravelly voice replied.

It didn't take her long to understand it were the prince and his father going at it again. They were not done talking about the terrible choice that was just made, though, as before, the prince soundes less than impressed by what the big man had to say.  
It stayed quiet for a little while, until the king's voice again started rumbling through the castle:

_"You need to get rid of that...that..whatever the fuck you just dragged with you for 5 hours, and get yourself an actual woman!"_

_"What did I tell you about talking shit about my chick!"_

_"Cut the crap! I know you! Don't pretend to like this bag of wrinkles, I KNOW YOU! Not once in your life have you screwed around with a girl above the age of 20 or knockers smaller than that fat head of yours!"_

_"My head's not that fat."_

_"You're killing the bloodline! You're destroying everything I worked for!"_

_"Banging hoes and slaves, and then letting their bastard kids fight to the death, you mean? Fucking great bloodline, dad, who was the genius that thought that up."_

_"You listen to me, I fucking made you, so you'd better show some respect!"_

_"AND YOU LISTEN TO ME..! You're two breaths away from getting a sword shoved up your scabby ass! The only reason you're still here is cause I allow you to fucking exist!"_

And after that, the voices stopped. The queen didn't know what to think, she was shocked to have heard so much information this soon in, but at the same time, she wasn't really suprised by this despicable revelation. She already figured out they were despicable people, so it was to be expected that nothing good was going on behind the scenes as well. Their procedure of creating offspring was disgusting.

The queen heard footsteps coming up, and quickly closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. The sudden ending of the conversation caught her off-guard, as for the conversation itself. Hopefully her tactic would still be effective.  
The door was heard swinging open. She imagined it was the prince, but she didn't want to open her eyes to check for sure. The person then sat down next to her. She felt eyes burning onto her face, at least, she hoped that was where the eyes were looking at. Then a hand followed. The hand gently moved from her face all the way down to her hips. Of all things she expected to happen, this was at the bottom of the list. Her highest bet was on the bedtime stabbing. But the entire night was filled with happenings she never thought would happen, so this should've been less than surprising.

The hand kept on going and it was testing her persistence. She wanted to scream and slap him, but she just had to keep on with the act, and maybe he'd give up. But as he kept on sitting there, watching her, it felt like she was just wasting her efforts. He was amazingly determined. Something she wasn't enough of. How was she ever going to win from this guy?

Suddenly two hands grabbed her by the shoulders and started shaking her vigorously.  
_"WAKE UP."_ the prince yelled.

The surprised queen opened her eyes as the prince was still shaking her around.  
_"Great, you're awake! I thought you died on me already."_ he smiled.

_"Eh!..No, just resting my eyes!"_ she smiled back nervously. He wasn't subtile, but his clumsy method sure worked.

_"I didn't tell you to sleep."_

_"Yes..Forgive me, I could hardly resist.."_

The prince looked quite alright with that explanation and started making himself comfortable, and dumped his heavy armor on the floor. The queen rubbed her head, attempting to get rid of the dizziness caused by the prince's shaking, but then his hands grabbed hold of her shoulders again. Without another warning, the prince crawled on top of her as he lied the confused woman back down on the bed.

_"So..how 'bout testing out that engine of yours.."_ he purred.

_"What? Oh Heavens! Uh, ehm, er, young prince, these kind of activities should be reserved for someone of your own age!" _she stuttered. This was going into the bad direction very fast. How could he be looking forward to something like this with an old woman?_  
_

_"How interesting.." _he replied, while petting her head._  
_

_"No, this is serious and wrong!" _the queen proclaimed._  
_

_"Cool."_

_"You don't have to do this, just do the right thing!"_

_"Oh, I am doing the right thing.."_

The prince's hands grabbed down at the bottom of her red dress and slowly started pulling it upwards.

This boy was serious! He was really serious! Why wouldn't anyone ever kill her when she asked for it. She was already stolen away from her life and home, she didn't want to have to go through this as well. Couldn't he have just locked her away in some dungeon? She wasn't interested in him, how could he not see that? Neither was she interested in the fact she'd just feel like dirt if she allowed this to happen, even if it were to soothe him and save herself.

The queen held onto her dress to keep him from raising it any higher up. He had to be distracted from whatever messy thought was going on in that messy head of his. She needed to start a conversation, about whatever, it didn't matter, but this scene had to be stopped from developing. It did not look or feel like a joke, and it worried her greatly. But the only words the queen could let out was asking him to stop in a panicky voice, for which the prince didn't care for. What was there even to talk about in a situation like this? The weather wasn't really an interesting subject.

The queen kept stammering while blocking the fiery prince, but eventually she could not contain herself anymore.  
_"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, YOU KNOW VERY WELL IT WAS WRONG TO CHOOSE ME!" _she yelled.

He looked up at her. He seemed to have heard her for a change, but his face was serious, as if she shouldn't have asked him that particular question. Even so, he did not answer it. While his serious face wasn't comparable to the dark stares he'd been giving her back at the ball, the queen decided to keep on talking in order to lighten his spirits.

_"I mean, I'm such a slow and old lady..! I'll just bore an adventurous young man like yourself." _she smiled awkwardly.

Luckily, but still as expected, the prince's serious face lit up the moment he was released from answering the previous question, and he replied to the compliment right away.  
_"Come on, you're not here to entertain me, you're here to be pretty!" _he said gleefully.

_"Oh. Eh. That's also a task least suited for me."_

_"Baby, baby, you keep being so hard on yourself!" _he said, as he wrapped both his arms around her.

She had never met a person who juggled between emotions that fast and that easily like this prince did. It couldn't be healthy to go from aroused, to serious, and then ecstatic within the same minute. But she had no reason to complain, things were going good so far, it seemed like he had her dress off his mind for the moment. Now she just had to continue on with the conversation and make it worth his time.

_"I'm just telling you what I know.." _the queen stated.

_"Maybe you don't know that much."_

_"Wh..what? I can reassure you this much, young prince, I am quite educated!" _the queen replied with confidence in her voice.

It wasn't exactly the right time to see his comment as a direct insult to her intelligence, but she felt like she had to defend herself whenever such a claim was made. It was childish, sure, but maybe her response was justified by her intelligence being the only "talent" she possessed. She remembered how jealous she would get when someone outwitted her. It was a good thing it was rare. Being born in a world and time were science had no place, most people were ignorant, really. As for dangerous.  
Having that said, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to talk about her extraordinary education with the prince. Being burned as a witch would be quite an awkward conclusion to the night, if he even cared to listen to her ramblings.

_"Whatever, wisdom doesn't come with age, but experience, granny."_ the prince replied.

_"I..actually have to agree with that."_ said the surprised queen, _"I'm impressed, I didn't expect such a statement from you."_

_"You fucking calling me stupid?"_

She flinched upon hearing the prince's crude words.  
_"Oh dear, no! I-I-I wasn't doubting your intelligence!"_

The prince stared at her, but then smiled again as he tightened his embrace.  
_"I'm pulling your legs, muffin, relax."_

_"Ah..ha ha.."_

Her heart was beating so hard, it visibly moved her chest up and down. She was two beats away from having a heartattack and dropping down on the spot. Every time the prince raised his voice or gave her the stare, she saw her life flashing before her eyes, and she was getting tired of it.  
As the woman was locked in his embrace, the prince also felt her chest booming, but managed to read a whole different signal from it.

_"You're excited, aren't you.." _he grinned.

_"Uh? Euh? I'm not..I mean.."_

He wasted no more words and headed right for his target. The conversation was clearly over for him.  
The prince closed his eyes and moved his head closer to hers, while the queen was still oblivious about their ended conversation and was still trying to find a reply to his earlier comment. The prince surprised her as his head was suddenly an inch away from hers, and in a state of desperation, she tried to push him away in order to prevent their faces from touching. It was the least graceful or polite thing to do, but neither was it successful, as the prince managed to cover her neck with kisses. Her clumsy, skinny arms did not hold him back.

_"No..prince..!"_

_"Yes."_

_"N-no..!"_

_"Yes."_

_"No, it's not right!"_

The argument went on for a little while, but the prince's patience was heard running out in his voice. The queen just didn't know what else to say or do to convince him to lay off, but being stuck in this game of "yes" and "no" couldn't go on forever. The chance she'd win was very small, and the prince's problem was that he wanted to win right now.  
He let out a grunt of annoyance, grabbed her hands within his knuckle, and forcefully moved them above her head. A snapping sound was to be heard.

_"AND NOW STOP THIS SHIT!"_ he snarled.

_"OOWWOWOWOW!"_ the queen shrieked.

In response to her cries of pain, he immediately released her hands and jumped back. He looked at her from a small distance, trying to see what exactly had happened. The queen was lying on the bed, tightly holding onto her right shoulder with an expression of agony. Without wasting another second, the prince moved towards her and helped her sit up. He slowly moved her hand away and part of her dress, so the damage could be determined. Her entire shoulder was blue.

_"Oh. I'm really sorry, muffin.."_

She didn't reply. What was she supposed to say, it was his own doing! If her shoulder didn't end up getting bruised, it wasn't hard to figure out what would've happened instead. Why was he even sorry? She didn't want to take his lousy apology! But she knew that as long she was in his company, staying friendly was the best course of action. She tried to spirit away her resentment and gave him a small smile.

_"It's fine, it happens to old bones. It's likely I'll be better in the morning.." _she replied.


	10. Once Upon A Name

To be back on that blasted horse after such a short night of sleep was not something she welcomed, but she was happy she got to sleep at all.

Yesterday things turned hairy, but her fragile bones saved her that time. The results of his pushy behaviour appeared to have spooked the prince, interestingly enough, and she was left alone that night. But she couldn't keep tempting him to bruise her before bedtime, and really, what kind of life was that. An amorous night with him was unavoidable if he wished for it, unless she managed to escape before that time. And that was exactly what she had to do.

It was unlikely the horses were going to take a break before they reached their final destination, so that meant she had to escape at that destination. But having to escape from the cave of the tiger only made her chances of actually getting away smaller, and to roam around in a country she'd never been before, from people who knew the land like the back of their hand, was rather stupid. Maybe it would help if she wore a disguise? Though, a disguise would not help against dangerous wild animals, if there were any.  
There just weren't any easy tricks in getting away from this nightmare. The multiple scenarios she played off in her mind gave her less than pleasing conclusions. She had to assume the worst with this boy; it would decrease the chance of making fatal mistakes. But the only thing she knew that worked was being humble and charming with him.

Then again, that didn't quite work out for the unfortunate king back at the ball.

But it didn't matter, she didn't want to keep charming him, she wanted to get out of there. Give an egomaniacal man compliments, and they just want to hear more. They're not going to thank you and send you on your way. Last night was a clear confirmation; he chose her with the full intend to keep her, but he still didn't explain _why_ he picked her. He didn't want to answer that question.  
As she felt his arm holding her tightly against his body, she assumed he was still alright with her, despite of her rejection last night. Apparently she had something he desired. That's as far as she got in this mystery.

The sun was going down, they had been riding for quite some hours again, but the men looked as lively as they were when they started this journey. It was like they were made of iron, they were unstoppable. She felt even older and weaker than she already was being the only one nearly collapsing of hunger, thirst and exhaustion. But she couldn't really remember eating that much in the past few days to begin with. Meat alone was a rare addition to her diet, since her kingdom lacked the animals, so whatever nutrition she could get was the bare minimum. It never mattered, she never did any hard physical work, but now it was taking a toll on her.  
The sky added to her suffering and turned gloomy. It wouldn't take long until heay rain would fall and they'd get soaked. She really couldn't bear any more inconveniences, hopefully they'd take shelter somewhere in case they hadn't arrived yet.

But eventually she spotted a huge castle in the distance, made out of black stone. The thing was quite easy to describe: it was like an enormous brick, touching the dark sky. Not very graceful, just big and intimidating, like a certain someone. The landscape itself wasn't that thrilling, either. There was tall grass everywhere, but not a single tree, rock or house to be seen. Surely there had to be people living around here, but they had to be far away from the royal castle. They must've been thankful for that decision. Unless the people were like their rulers.

_"Cool, we'll be home before dinner! And bedtime." _the prince announced.

Bedtime. That word echoed through her ears, it had a most unpleasant ring to it now. If it was for sleeping, she'd be all for it.  
The closer they got to the castle, the more it became clear how big this thing was. Being at the foot of the castle, it was impossible to see the end of it, it just seemed to disappear in the clouds.

_"Don't snap your neck in half staring. Would be a waste of that extra dinner plate."_ the prince joked, and jumped off his horse. He then picked her up and placed her on the ground. The long, exhausting trip made it difficult for her to keep standing, and she almost tumbled over. The prince decided to spare himself from the silly scene and picked her up again.

_"Really..you don't have to do that, my legs are just sleeping.."_ the queen said.

_"So, I DO have to do that."_ he replied, and carried her inside. Again, the boy just did what he wanted.

The inside of the castle looked a whole lot more decorated than the outside. In fact, the place was quite beautiful and tidy. But the large hallways felt like a journey. How was she going to escape this place if she was out of breath before she could even reach a door?

_"I'm gonna go ahead and ditch you at the dinner table, but I'll be right back." _the prince said.

While still in his arms, they entered a huge room with a long table. At the far end of the table there was a large throne-like chair, and at the side of the room's entrance was a smaller throne-like chair. Regular chairs inhabited the rest of the table, but they didn't have any plates, besides the one chair next to the smaller throne. The prince placed her on said chair, and then left the room.

_"Wait for me, muffin!" _he called back at her._  
_

And so, there she was, all alone.  
Alone, with no guards watching her.  
In total silence.

Being alone in a strange and dangerous environment comes with strange and dangerous thoughts, and a sudden burst of uncontrollable panic started entering her mind.  
Now was such a perfect time to escape, but there was not a single window in this room! But she had to get out of here! She had to go before she'd get stuck in his bedroom-embrace again! She was willing to just go for it; be stupid, and run out of that door. Whatever or whoever she would see on the other side didn't matter, she'd just run.  
But what if someone would enter right now? Or now? Or right now? Now?

She stared at the door, while her legs were trembling of excitement and fear. Obviously her body was preparing itself to sprint away, but her mind was struggling. With every second that passed, she regretted not going for it.  
But what if someone would enter right now? Or now? Or right now? Now?

What if no one would come in for another 30 minutes, and the other side of the room was completely empty? She didn't hear any noises, so it could've been the case that all the guards were meeting up somewhere. That meant this was the perfect opportunity. But would the prince really trust her that much to leave her alone like this? Honestly, that was unlikely, but the place sounded so empty. It was tempting her.  
But what if someone would enter right now? Or now? Or right now? Now?

The door was still closed and the castle still quiet. It had to be today, she simply couldn't stay another night with the prince and she couldn't stay here forever. Maybe she just had to take a look around the corner first, to check if the coast really was clear. If someone would catch her looking, that didn't necessarily mean she was about to escape, right? She just had to come up with an excuse beforehand in case someone did catch her, and hope for the best.

She took a deep and long breath, and stood up from her chair. Her excited feet nervously tip-toed towards the door, trying their hardest not to start running and attract any possible nearby attention. Her hand then reached for the door handle. But before her hand made contact, the door suddenly flew open. The queen was petrified upon seeing the prince's father standing in the door opening.

_"Well, well, look at that. About to go somewhere?" _he grinned.

She didn't reply. She couldn't reply. The queen was overcome by anxiety and was forced to swallow any words she had prepared for herself. The king's grin looked all too familiar. He and the prince were very much related, if there was any doubt before.  
She stepped out of the way as the king entered the room and shut the door with a satisfied smile.

_"And that dumb idiot trusted you, too. Just imagine what he'd do if he knew you were about to boot it."_

She didn't believe that the prince had actually left her completely unsupervised, but why would his father lie about it? More importantly, why would the prince do such a thing? It gave her a strange feeling in her chest.  
Was it because someone fully trusted her and she abused that trust? She never did something as lowly as that before, but how did it make sense here, the prince was her capturer. She was supposed to violate whoever and whatever she could in order to get away from this place.  
Curse her parents and the indoctrinated mind they gave her. Sometimes she wished she wasn't so nice and loyal, it did her more harm than good. But it didn't matter, the sting she felt for abusing the concept of trust was bound to fade away, so she wasn't going to linger on about it. The prince was certainly not worthy of receiving her loyalty. She had greater things to worry about right now, like his father having caught her.

_"It's n-nothing like that!" _the queen stuttered, _"..I..have been waiting for a while now..I was merely curious what kept everyone.."_

_"Ooh. Good save, good save. You're a good little liar. You're gonna need that in this barftastic marriage." _he mumbled, as he slowly strolled over to the large throne at the end of the table and sat down.

The queen decided to head back to her chair as well. She wasn't going anywhere now. The fact her opportunity was indeed there made her a bit upset, but if the king was waiting for her to leave through that door, maybe her opportunity was never really there. He looked quite happy he had caught her in the middle of it, and he obviously didn't buy her excuse, so he knew her intentions as well as she did. What was he going to do with this knowledge?  
It was clear he didn't want her to marry his son, but she wondered why he didn't just let her leave. He was the king, the owner and boss of this castle and this land, he could've lead her to the exit, just like that. Both their problems would've been solved, just like that. Since they were alone, he even could've gone for a more chararacter-fitting approach, and killed her. Instead, he talked about what the prince would do to her, and he readied himself for dinner. It didn't make any sense. When did anything make sense with these people?

For at least another two minutes she was alone in the room with the king. It felt longer than that, but she knew, as she kept herself occupied counting the seconds. She always did that when in a nerve-wracking situation. The king was just silently sitting there, staring deep into her soul. He had the same black eyes as his son, but his expressions were easier to read. His eyes were stationed on her at all times, and his face was filled with loathing.  
Suddenly, the doors flew open, and the prince triumphantly walked in with many servants following him. They all carried plates of food that were obviously too much for just the three of them, but this was one of those things that came with power and success.

_"Sorry for the wait, but thanks you stayed for dinner!"_ the prince smiled.

The queen took a quick glance at the king. He just smirked at her and sat up straight, as his food was brought to him. He didn't look like revealing her attempted escape to the prince. Yet.  
Most of the plates were set down in front of the queen, and soon, the entire half of the table was covered with food and drinks. The king only had 3 plates of food, and while they were big, there was a noticeably large difference between the two table sides. Maybe he was more sensible and only ate what he could swallow. After most of the plates were set, the prince took a small leap and crashed himself right onto the small throne. The queen was too worried he'd miss the target and break his arm than to be impressed by his stylish little trick. She never liked the sight of broken bones.

_"It's good to be around my two favourite people of all time! My sexy almost-wife..and myself!" _he announced.

The laughter over his own joke filled the room, and made king Bobby roll his eyes as he chewed on his giant bird. The queen wondered what she did to deserve the title of "favourite person of all time", nevertheless, she rewarded the prince's silly joke by giving him a small smile, which he seemed to appreciate.

_"Come on."_ he said, as he gestured to the table,_ "Dig in, whatever you want, you need some meat on those bones. You can use your hands and everything."_

_"Thank you, young prince.." _she replied.

The prince took a sip from his cup, and placed it back down with a more serious face.  
_"Stop calling me 'young prince'."_

_"..Oh. I'm very sorry, it was not to offend your maturity. I shall." _the queen quickly replied.

_"Nah, it's nothing like that. It's super cute, but you're my chick now..so, just call me by my name."_

_"Alright..prince Larie." _she replied.

_"Larie."_

_"Ah, yes, eh..yes.."_

_"Larie."_

_"Yes..uhm."_

_"Larie."_

_"Y-Yes.."_

_"Larie."_

_"Jesus Christ." _said a voice from the other side.

_"..."_

_"You're not gonna die when you say my name, there's no creepy-ass voodoo curse on it."_

She didn't want to say his name. Getting personal was like an unconscious chain that would just tie herself to his leg. She simply didn't want to start any kind of relationship with him, she had to keep seeing herself as the prisoner and the prince as her monsterous capturer, and these were the facts. She knew she was a sucker for politeness and she didn't want to get brainwashed by his kind words, his kind offers, and his kind face. This prince was not kind, and she had to keep that in mind.  
But the prince was still waiting for her to perform this simple task of saying his name. His face was a combination of patient, but also eager, and his hands were folded the same. It was like some heavy load would be lifted off his back if she said his name. There really wasn't much else to do at this moment. Hopefully she wouldn't forget the urgency of her escape and wouldn't end up drinking tea and playing a game of chess with him instead.

Please, let her remember how unredeemable he is.

_"Alright..Larie."_

The prince sat up straight and had a smile bigger than his face could handle.  
_"Yeah! No problem..Anna-Marie."_

_"Oh, call me Ann."_

Shoot.


	11. Once Upon A Truth

And there she was again, sitting in a room, basically waiting for her second assault.  
This time Larie was already present in the room with her, but was occupied with something other than her. He was busy polishing some of the many swords and daggers that were removed from the cluttered walls, while giving her a flirty smile so now and then. Sadly enough for him, she didn't have the mindset to understand any of his sexual innuendos.

All the weapons looked amazing and creative, and since Larie took the effort to polish them himself, he likely valued them greatly. His bedroom truly was a beautiful sight, like the rest of the castle was, even though the dangerous weapons covering the walls made her hesitant to move around. With every step Larie took while wearing his armor, the daggers and swords trembled. One of these days they would fall off and hit someone.  
The room itself was mainly black and most of the furniture was red. In the middle of the room there were some couches, and one couch was moved towards the big fireplace at the right, where she was sitting. Farther back in the room was a canopy bed and at both sides there was a passageway leading to another room; with left a bathing room with a fancy-looking bathtub, and right some kind of study. Both rooms were the only rooms that didn't have any weapons attached to the walls, thank God, and the study actually included quite an amount of books, as for a large dark blue-greyish piano.  
Larie was honest enough to say he didn't read or was able to play. She figured as much. She knew how to read music notes, but she never had the opportunity to lay her hands on an actual instrument, so the piano intrigued her. But she didn't have the nerves to ask Larie if she could play. Neither was it the time to enjoy herself.

Ann looked at the bruise on her shoulder. It was still blue, but it didn't hurt that much anymore. But Larie didn't need to know that. This was the only excuse she could use to delay things long enough for her to make a possible escape. He left her alone earlier this night, so if he trusted her this much already, that meant the next day would be filled with opportunities. It was a likeable assumption. Hopefully the boy's father wouldn't be blocking any doors this time.

Larie placed the last sword back on its original spot on the wall, walked over, and sat down next to her. He placed his hand under his head as he watched her, but didn't say anything. Ann was too afraid he'd start something if she acknowledged his presence, so she kept her main focus on the fireplace. Again, she started counting the seconds, but these seconds all had a 5 second space between them, so her time was far from accurate.

_"You look nice in front of a fireplace."_ he said.

The compliment was so awkward, Ann was expecting him to push her into it next. She could already hear his crazy laughter as she would burn in the tall, hot flames. She grabbed her shoulders to protect herself from her own wild imagination.

_"You cold, still? Come sit next to me."  
_

He raised his arm and waited for her to scoot under it. While she could tell him she wasn't cold at all, there way no way to back up her shivering. He probably didn't want to hear she was fantasizing about him killing her. Or did he?  
Nevertheless, she was not interested in anything considered foreplay, so she tried to give him her most appreciated smile and said:

_"I am just fine, sweetheart."_

Ugh.

_"Come over here, anyway."_ Larie insisted.

He had been in a rather good mood all day, and in no way did she want to jynx it by even acknowledging it, but she also didn't want to make him believe she was alright with all this. Or alright with him. Why was she still here? Couldn't he see in her face she did not return the feelings? They didn't flirt at the ball or anything, and surely the princesses were more charming than she was, so why did he grab the least interested woman from the bunch?  
Larie still had his arm raised, but she just couldn't get herself to move over to him. What excuse could she throw at him to avoid answering his request? Could she use her injury in this case? But Larie didn't wait any longer, scooted over, and placed his arm over Ann's shoulders, without her consent.

_"You're not mad at me, are you?" _he asked.

_"What..? What makes you say that?"_

_"Cause, I'm kinda a douchebag." _Larie laughed.

_"Oh..ha..ha, I wouldn't say that.."_

_"What would you say, then?"_

She didn't think this was an honest conversation, but when Larie was waiting for her response, she found herself caught off-guard by his question. She tried to come up with something clever, instead of something direct, but was unable to do so. What kind of response did he expect from her? Was he fishing for more flattery, so he could use that as an excuse to jump her again?  
Larie was still waiting, and it made her break out in nervous sweat. But even though he had her cornered, he didn't look insulted by her silence.

_"..Hey, don't fret about it, baby!" _he said,_ "You always look so stressed out..You're safe here, with me. You can do and say whatever you want, you're gonna be my wife soon!"_

_"..."_

_"I'm not gonna hurt you or yell at you."_

It was surreal to hear these unusually kind words from his mouth. The once aggressive prince was now sitting next to her, offering her the promise of safety. From himself. It was strange he had to do that.  
If she had to believe him, even though blatant honesty was his thing, then she had to take this conversation seriously. But why was he so concerned with her emotional state? Why strive for her smile? He could do to her whatever he wanted, who was she to stop him. None of the prince's actions added up to anything. She was trying her best to come up with explanations as to why he did the things he did, but knowing herself and knowing Larie, coming up with a plausible reason was hard. She was sure that she and him had no past relationship, she was long out of business before he was even born, and she never met up with anyone afterwards. His father didn't look familiar, either.  
As far she was concerned, there was nothing. Yet Larie knew something.

Why were there three people killed in her name? Why was she given this forced protection to begin with? Why was she here?

One important question that would answer all, and it was still left unanswered. She didn't want to turn the relaxed prince back into his old self by daring to ask again, but if he promised not to hurt her, then this was the right time to test out how honest his promise really was. She just had to know. Larie appeared calm and friendly, so what other time was the right time to ask?

_"Larie, why did you pick me..?" _she asked with a straight face.

He looked surprised to hear the same question this soon again. After a short silence, he forced a smile on his face and decided to approach the matter in a more jokey state of mind.

_"Hah!..Why not..? You're sexy!"_ he replied.

It was crazy to expect he would give her a real answer, but why was it so hard for him? Was the truth something that embarrassed him? Was she a mistake he was too proud to admit to? Just what?  
Not afraid to raise his dagger on a girl, but still hesitant to give a truthful answer to an important question. What was he expecting from her? That she'd be fine marrying him and not question why? She wasn't a candidate, young, attractive, important, or rich, and there certainly weren't any sparks on the dance floor. How was it strange of her to ask what the heck she was doing here?

_"Don't..Just don't, alright..? Stop it." _Ann sighed.

_"Wha?"_

_"Your opinion about me is..delusional, Larie. I cannot listen to it anymore.."_

_"So, I gotta stop knowing what I know?"_

_"That's why I'm asking you..What is it that you know?"_

_"Just told you."_

_"It can't be that."_

_"It's that..!"_

_"There is something you know about me, the reason why I'm here, and it's not that I'm stunningly attractive."_

_"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I KNOW!"_

The sudden raising of Larie's voice made her flinch.  
Upon seeing her scared, Larie quickly collected himself. But the quick-paced conversation was far from over, and it looked like he was finally willing to talk.


	12. Larie

Once upon a time, there were three brothers. A most unfortunate bunch, in every sense of the word.

**The eldest** was the child of a weary traveler. She needed a place to rest and they say she was the king's first true love, but her urge to be free did not make her suitable as a wife, and so she left after giving birth to the child named "Tee". She was never seen again.

**The middle child** was the child of a seductress and warrior. Her strength and beauty were true, but her love and loyalty were not. She was sent away, but on the king's doorstep she left behind the child named "Larie". She was never seen again.

**The youngest **was the child of a kind and noble woman. She planned to marry the king, but fate was not so kind, and took her life away after she had given birth to the child named "Jay". She was never seen again.

There were never less than three children running the hallways of the dark castle. Already countless brothers and sisters before them were born and had met death, but they were non-existent to them, and the three boys only knew each other. Girls were not considered to be fit as a successor to the throne and boys had to go through hard training, impossible trials, and then forced to battle each other at a young age. The last one standing would be deserving of the crown. None had managed to go through the trials or the slaughtering of their own siblings.

Except for one.

Larie's victory left his right eye damaged beyond saving, but his brothers had to give up more than that. As the life seeped away from their bodies, they asked Larie to promise them to be kind to their father, as the two were young and didn't know any better but to respect him. But Larie was overcome with the desire to take vengeance and unable to love his father after all these hardships he forced upon him, including the demand of Tee and Jay's death. While he did not care for his siblings' request, he promised not to kill their father.

When he was six year old, he was taken to his first village and ordered to take every life and set flame to every house. There was nothing inside of him that made him think it was wrong, and he did just so. While the village crumbled in front of him, the remains of an abandoned storybook caught the attention of his soulless eyes. Most of it was ashes, most of the pages were blackened and unreadable, but the drawn image on the top page called to him.

The illustration showed a woman, gently smiling and floating in the air. She wore a red dress, a silver crown and had long black hair. Though, it was hard to see whether it was her hair or just fire damage. There were two pages lying underneath, mostly intact, that told a story about a fairy queen.

She was the unappreciated ruler of a forest, and all the animals that lived there kept abusing her kindness and naivety. Every day they requested her magic powers for small, insignificant and selfish problems. The animals were never grateful or satisfied, even so, the fairy queen answered their calls with pleasure in her heart. But every time she used her magic, she lost some of her own life, and eventually her frail body collapsed.  
Even when the pale fairy queen lied dead on the ground, the animals did not care for her. But the smile on her lifeless face was bigger than those of the selfish animals, and thus the story ended recognizing the fairy queen as the victor.

The boy did not care for the story's moral message, neither did the animals interest him. They represented everything he was already used to in his short life; their ungratefulness was close to evil, so they did not stand out for him.

But the fairy queen was everything he wasn't and everything he never knew. Upon seeing her enchanting image, he felt like an actual child for the first time. He was in love for the first time.

He would have her.


	13. Necessarily Ever After

Larie headed over to his bed, ducked down, and pulled out a heavy-looking box. He placed it on the bed and took out a thick, yellow piece of paper, covered in black smudges. As he reached out the sheet to her, Ann stood up to take a closer look. It showed a waterpainted illustration of a woman, gently smiling and floating in the air. She wore a red dress, a silver crown and had long black hair. Though, it was hard to see whether it was her hair or just fire damage.

When her eyes examined the drawing, her feet became wobbly and her heart started to race. There was something about this image. Something extraordinary. She knew she had seen this woman somewhere not too long ago, but she had trouble remembering. She tried her best to recognize her, but it was difficult. She squinted her eyes as she glanced over the page a second time.

This woman..

She used to be a stranger..  
..but then they met somewhere.  
But when she saw her wrinkles..  
..she ran away.

That's what she remembered.

Then..

Was she..?

Was this woman..?

It had to be..

This woman..

It..

**It was her!**

The illustration in her hands was identical to the reflection in the yellow floor at the bonding ball! The red dress with the high white collar and blue oval jewel, the large silver crown, the hair, the face, the body frame, even the round cyan earrings were portrayed. Not a detail was left out.  
But how was this possible? What did it even mean? What did the story mean? Was it her life, just very abstractly told? This was just a fairy tale character from some book, probably written years before she was even born!

_"I don't know..what to say.." _she stammered, _"..This is in every way impossible..!"_

_"I waited for you for so long..fairy queen." _Larie grinned, and held the confused woman in his arms.

_"B-B-B-B-But I'm not this fairy queen!"_

_"My baby.."_

"_I'm not this fairy queen!_"

_"But..you might as well be.."_

While still smiling, Larie looked slightly disappointed by her reaction on his big reveal. He probably expected her to jump in his arms, followed by them lying down in a loving embrace and living happily ever after, but this revelation just ended up spooking her. She didn't expect something as otherworldly like this to be his motivation and the main reason for this Hell ride, but it sure explained it. But..he didn't honestly think she was this fairy queen? Fairies, trolls and mermaids simply weren't real. She knew many people believed, but was Larie really one of those people? He didn't look like the type of guy who'd occupy himself with fairy tale creatures, but if he came across this story so early in his life, it was easy to assume he at least believed in the existence of mentioned "fairy queen". Especially when given an image that looked like a fairly ordinary woman, the realism made it hard to discard it.

Ann looked into his eyes, that were sparkling with adoration. While her clumsy response kinda sucked out the romance from his confession, Larie looked relieved now he told her. But what was she supposed to do with this information? Never mind the fact that her exact image was being sold in storybooks, what was she supposed to do with this hopeless boy who just opened up his soul to her? She couldn't find it in her heart to frown upon Larie's crucial backstory, but she wasn't entirely sure if she was charmed by his journey to look for a fictional character. Then, was she supposed to be creeped out?

To think, it was a mere fairy tale that saved her life from an otherwise dangerous human being. If he had never stumbled upon that book, or she wasn't the person she was, she'd be dead already. It was the only little bit of childhood he had in his hate-filled life, and he had cherished it for all these years. But she wasn't entirely grateful, as the book was also the reason she was in his bedroom right now.  
As sweet as he wanted to be for her, Ann wondered she could throw her morals out of the window and stay with a teenager, a murderer, and an overall psychopath. His attitude towards her didn't change who he was, he was still the same boy who barged in laughing at the bonding ball and then sliced up three people.

Yes. She knew these things so well, and they were so very important..Then why did she feel so conflicted? Why didn't she know what to think of him anymore? He was that boy, but at the same time, he also proved to be someone else.

Larie's eyes were still sparkling, and it looked like he was waiting for her to return the hug he had given her a while ago. But hugging him in this state was like putting on the wedding ring right away. It was the last thing this situation needed. Even so, she had to resist the urge to pet the boy on the head for the fact he never had a childhood. It was sad enough that the crippled rules set by adults caused the suffering of a child.  
She just needed some time to clear her mind. She didn't want to stay and marry him, and she shouldn't, but something got rid of the determination she had earlier to leave. Her soul was apparently touched by his story, even though she couldn't make up her mind about it. There wasn't much she could do about it right now.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door and interrupted her thoughts.  
_"Your majesty! The girls are waiting for you!" _a voice called.

_"..The girls?" _Ann pondered.

Larie's once sparkling face was now in shock. Apparently this wasn't something he wanted her to hear, he looked like he was caught stealing a cookie.  
_"Goddamnit!"_ he hissed, _"Fucking dad..!"_

_"Oh my, what's going on..?"_

_"Just my dad being a dick, wait here."_

It wasn't any of her business, and she probably didn't even want to know, but it sounded like the issue should concern her as well. Besides, she wasn't looking forward to more mind-blowing kept secrets.  
_"..You can tell me. I'd like for you to be honest with me from now on." _she said with a reassuring voice.

He looked at her, and his expression showed something she had never seen before. It was fear. She never made someone nervous before, and she especially didn't expect this emotion from him. Ann prepared herself for the worst.

_"Oh..okey. Sure, I wouldn't wanna keep stuff from you.."_ he said, as he cleared his throat, _"My..uh..dad would always pick up these chicks for us, to..you know."_

_"Oh." _she answered silently.

_"But that shit's gonna stop right now, I found you, I don't want anyone else!"_

Ann quietly thought to herself. To know that he had spent his time with so many different women gave her a nasty feeling. She wasn't sure why she cared at all, it was his life.  
Maybe she was bothered because it erased all potential charm from the story he just told her. But 12 years had passed since he found the storybook, it was likely he gave up actively looking at one point. He was just a child, and who knew at what age king Bobby involved him into these activities. Seeing his frustrated face sure implied he had regrets.  
Who was she to judge, anyway. She was supposed to embrace this moment, it was exactly what she'd been waiting for. These girls would relieve her from her womanly duty, and she'd stay untouched and could plan out a proper escape. Her bruise-tactic was now officially out of the window, this was a way better option.

Her success meant a bad ending for Larie, especially after he told her all this and expected their relationship to be official, but the two of them simply didn't belong. Hopefully he'd understand when he's older.

_"You believe me, right?"_ he continued.

_"Listen.."_ Ann sighed, _"Just go."_

_"What?"_

_"Go to these girls."_

_"What! No!"_

_"I'll never be able to answer to your desires."_

_"What the Hell, cheating on you this early in the game, what do you see me for!"_

_"You have found me and that should suffice. For everything else, you have your girls."_

_"But you're my everything else!"_

_"Just go.."_

_"But, no!"_

_"Do not..do not make this harder than it needs to be, that's not wise.."_

_"You're telling me? Ann..!"_

_"Please, just go."_

_"I'm not..no, don't be like that now, baby!"_

_"You know I am right, and I am fine with it."_

_"I'm fucking not!"_

_"..Just go, sweetheart."_

Larie watched her get up and walk back to the fireplace, where she sat down again.  
_"I recon you need this room. I'll be sure to be gone before you return." _she smiled.

_"Muffin.."_

_"You have my permission."_

He finally gave up and a distressed Larie slowly exited the room. She turned her head away, so she didn't have to see his face. The sadness in his voice was heartbreaking and she had hoped for less resistance from him when she decided to do this, but he just had to learn it was for the best.

Yes, it was for the best. Soon she'd be back home, packing her things, and starting a fresh new life. It was all she had been striving for these past 2 days, there was not a doubt in her mind that it wasn't for the best.  
Then why? Why did her chest ache as if she did something wrong? With every breath she took it felt like her lungs were being stabbed by a knife. It was terrible she had to order a boy to have intercourse with some girl he didn't know or care for, but really, was it any different from what he had been doing before? Why was Larie even unhappy? Why was anyone unhappy? This was what she had to do to make her escape work, she couldn't afford to question her decisions right now. She did nothing wrong, darn it.

But his upset face, his upset voice, they were still in her head.

It was the second time she was overcome with an emotion unknown to her, and she wondered the meaning of it. She wasn't able to explain these feelings, so she just had to keep telling herself her choices were all good and necessary. Because they were.  
But her body had a different opinion; she couldn't even get herself stand up and leave. It was like gravity changed on her the moment Larie left the room. She wanted to move, but she felt tired. She felt apathetic.  
She just sat there, silently staring at her dress reacting to the light coming from the flames. She didn't know what else to do, so allowed herself to get distracted by it. On her lap she spotted a few blue hairs. In an act of automatism she started brushing off the hairs and straightened up her dress, till she remembered Larie had blue hair. All that aggressive hugging of his had left behind a souvenir, so it seemed.  
Ann picked up the last hair that was still clinging on and examined it. It was very thick. As for very blue. What else was there to say, it was a hair.

As she stared at it in the light, she started wondering..

Would she be alright with Larie if they were the same age?  
Or did he just have to be a good person?

She threw the hair in the fireplace and got up. She really shouldn't think about these kind of things. She'd fill her head with silly ideas if she didn't have a strong mental brake.  
Larie could not be excused and wasn't worth thinking about. The unneccessary murders by his hands were important to remember, not his black sparkling eyes. His love for her did not excuse his hate for everybody else.

She walked over to the bed, where the open box and the page from the storybook were still located. The box had nothing else in it, apparently its only purpose was to carry this one sheet of paper.  
Ann's eyes moved to the page. Considering the true age of the image and everything it had gone through, it was still in fairly good condition. Larie had been taking good care of it. Ann flipped the page, but the back looked less whole. The paper was thick, so neither sides really influenced each other, but the back was clearly the loser. Even so, it was obvious that something was once written on it.  
She walked back to the fireplace, so she could try to see what it said. She wasn't sure, but she saw a few dots that looked like music notes and the words "What a sight, what a sight", but that was all she could distinguish from the black smudges. She was curious to hear this song and she wanted to try out the piano in the study. Maybe there was time to play a little before Larie would return. Maybe it would cheer her up.


	14. Unwillingly Ever After

_"You shit-eating retard, the fuck you think you're doing!"_

_"Just giving you an early wedding present, my dearest son! Um, naked girls are still your favourite, right?" _King Bobby grinned.

_"My chick was right fucking there when you sent your queer little guard over!"_

_"Oh nooooo, really? That's too bad. Well, she already knows you're a scumbag, so why not live up to it."_

_"Fuck you, we're in love!"_

_"Yeah, sure, does she know she's in love?"_

_"She's all over me!"_

_"Ha ha ha, okey, let's stop the bull right here and go pick yourself a ho already. I had to get these from far."_

Larie gave him a scowl and then looked at the girls. They were all he had ever known, but he didn't leave Ann behind with the intention to pick up a girl, he just wanted to show up and yell at his father. But now he was here, what was he supposed to do? Listen to Ann or listen to himself? She was convinced that this was what he had to do, for some reason, but what's the point of having a girlfriend if this was going to stay a part of his life? Larie just couldn't agree with her given solution to this problem he wasn't sure existed, but if she said he had to do it, then maybe it was time to be the man she wanted him to be and respect her decisions. He did not understand any of it, but maybe he just wasn't smart enough to understand. She was an adult, she was the fairy queen, she probably knew best.

It wasn't hard to figure out that king Bobby arranged this with the intention to wreck their relationship. If the guard never knocked on his door, this would've been a habit he could've left far behind him. Now Larie was again surrounded by young smiling faces and perfect curves, all inviting him over, but this time it gave him a bitter taste. These girls were attractive, but he didn't want them to be. If he was standing here at any other time, he would've taken a bunch to his room already, but now he could only hide his obvious hesitation by pretending to browse the girls.

Just how was he supposed to use Ann's permission without feeling like a piece of shit? It did not feel right, but she wanted it. Would she like him more if he just obeyed? All of it confused him so, but he wanted her to like him more. He guessed it had to be done.

He spotted an Asian-looking female with black hair in a bob cut and polite curves. She wasn't the type of person he'd normally pick, but between all the blondes and gingers with the D cups, she was the only one who looked somewhat familiar. He just had to tell himself that.

_"Come on, honey, you're coming with me!" _he smiled. The girl laughed excitedly when Larie picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. King Bobby grinned at his victory.

_"..I'm only doing this cause Ann's okey with it!"_ Larie snarled at him, and walked off.

_"Oh, how noble, how romantic! I almost thought you were doing it for, you know, yourself!"_ king Bobby called after him, _"You're a hero, though!"_

Larie couldn't be concerned about him. He knew what he knew, and his father knew nothing. This was fine. Ann said it was fine. King Bobby could go ahead and think he was playing them like some clever puppet master, but in the end, he was the fool.

Larie and the girl sprinted into his bedroom, and she immediately placed herself upon his bed. She sure was the playful type. He decided to help himself get into the mood by acting the same, and gave her his most flirtatious smile. He jumped on the girl and they drowned each other in kisses. Her fingers grabbed hold of his messy blue hair and her legs wrapped themselves around his body. There was no going back. This had better be worth it.

Then suddenly, the sound of a piano was heard coming from the study. The girl jumped up in surprise.  
_"..Someone's still here..!?"_ she whispered.

Larie bit his lip. Ann wasn't supposed to still be here! She probably forgot to leave, just his rotten luck. There was nothing else to do about it, he just had to gently lead her out of the room. Hopefully she wouldn't be disgusted by him, she had to pass the naked girl lying in his bed, after all. What a great start of the night this was.

_"I'm on it.."_ Larie said.

He got up and silently entered the study. As expected, Ann was still present and unaware of the two who had entered. She was sitting in front of the piano and looked like she was busy figuring something out. As her back was turned to the entrance, she still hadn't noticed Larie's presence.

He was not looking forward to making this terrible request and instead just stood there, watching her. But it was nice to watch her. She looked so graceful sitting by his piano. He always hated the thing, he didn't think it was appropriate for guys to have, like books. He hated this entire room, but it was a good thing he never made the final decision to do sword practice in here. At least now he was able to share it with his girl.  
While Ann was still messing about, trying to find the right notes, he noticed an ugly piece of paper sitting on the piano. It was hard to miss, it looked like it was picked out of 4-week-old trash. He wasn't sure what it was doing there, it didn't look like a music sheet.  
But it did look like..

Ann suddenly let out a happy gasp, as if she just made a groundbreaking discovery, and positioned herself properly on the stool as she finally started to play the song she was trying to find.


	15. Eagerly Ever After

_"Get out!"_

_"What?"_

_"Get the fuck out of my room! GET OUT!"_

The loud voices from the bedroom made Ann jump up. There were people here? She quickly closed the lid of the piano and paced herself towards the direction of the exit. She absolutely forgot about the time, and the last thing she wanted was to catch Larie and the girl in the middle of it. She wasn't sure what to make of the conversation going on at the other side of the wall, but it was a clear sign it was time for her to go.

She entered the bedroom fast enough to see the door close, but as she didn't want to catch sight of anything else, she shielded the right side of her eyes with her hand and headed for the door.  
_"E-Excuse me, I'll just b-be passing through, thank you!"_ she stuttered.

_"Hey, HEY, wait!"_

_"Do forgive me, I'll wait outside!"_

_"Baby, there's no one here!"_

She stopped in her tracks and turned around. The room was indeed empty, not counting Larie and herself. But the bed looked used. Had he already finished while she was in the other room? The idea made her a bit nauseous.  
Larie spread out his arms as he approached her, and held her in another one of his tight embraces. This time it felt even less pleasant. It sure smelled like another woman had wrapped her legs around him.

_"Ah..I suppose you did what needed to be done.."_ she muttered.

_"Yeah. Kicked that tramp right out of our bed." _he replied calmly, _"But I was about to do it. I'm sorry."_

_"Oh. Why..?" _she asked surprised, _"I gave you my blessing."_

_"Cause, you're the fairy queen.."_ he explained, _"What kind of ass would I be if perfection isn't even good enough for me."_

His explanation didn't make any sense from an objective point of view, but when his sappy words met her ears, she felt her spine tingle. It was hard for her to describe. Maybe it was like the first stages of getting a fever. But less painful. She couldn't help but blush upon his reply.

It was terrible.

This was exactly the last thing she wanted to happen. She knew herself so well, she should've been able to avoid this moment with ease. Not one second did she forget about her purpose, so how did this happen? Why was the compliment doing anything for her? Why was she relieved that he didn't do what she ordered him to do? How was she going to escape now? Just what was going on with her? She was so disappointed in herself.  
The smile that tried to develop on her face was quickly suppressed, and she turned her head away, but the boy who was only two inches away from her wasn't blind. Larie felt like it was his chance, and started caressing her red skin with his fingers. It did everything but calm Ann's mind.

Don't forget the plan! This is not right! He is not right! Don't forget the plan!

She had to keep telling herself the same thing over and over, but the longer she stood in his arms, the fuzzier all the nasty memories of him became. Surely she wasn't impressed by his childhood story and his deranged love for her? She knew better than that! They were never a couple, she was his hostage the moment they met! Her mind certainly knew better, but her body, that blasted, useless body; it felt like it was about to collapse by his mere touch.  
Two very strong and opposite feelings were fighting each other, and it was driving her mad. She didn't even know when all of this first started, she only remembered continuously being afraid and harassed by this prince. When did she go from fainting by his mere touch to..fainting by his mere touch?

Standing with Larie like this was wrong and it filled her with guilt. Many families were terrorized and tortured, and he was the reason for all this pain caused.  
It was destroying her inside that this monstrous boy was the only person in her life who ever cared for her with such passion. The only person who ever gave her something as simple as a smile or a compliment. It was like a sick joke played by fate, a test to see whether she'd be desperate enough to accept such a human being into her life.  
But why would she be drawn to this kind of attention? She never felt that lonely or had a craving to be put on a pedestal, she just wanted to get rid of the shame and the rumors. She was used to being who she was and her solitary life had protected her all these years, so what reason did she have to condemn it and then long for something she never craved for?

It was like her decision to act upon that cursed invitation had a never ending chain reaction of horrible events, and every time a new problem blocked her path. If she just stayed home that night, she'd never be here, filled with the thoughts of a dribbling buffoon.

He intimidated her, he took her away, and he tried to assault her; this wasn't the base for a healthy relationship, it was the beginning of a drama-horror story. Yet here she was, in his arms, letting him touch her face. How much wrong did a person have to do for her to ignore a compliment? Was she insane? Damn this beast of a boy. Damn herself.  
She was so clueless about what to do and Larie took that opportunity to touch her all over. And she just stood there like an idiot, letting it happen. Judging by his face, he was assured he now fully had her, and was probably already busy picturing their globally unapproved future together. It must be nice to know what you want in life. Something she was never sure about herself.  
All of this made her dreams of starting anew seem even farther away. She wanted to go on with it, but if her wobbly feet didn't want to cooperate, how was she going to run from this place? Was she perhaps not supposed to run? Was this right here the "gift from Heavens" her father always promised her? After all these years of nothing, marry a creation of death and fear? Was this what she deserved?

_"I don't feel so good.."_ she moaned.

_"That's okey, we can lie down."_

Ann looked at the bed. That filthy bed. He was about to do it, and she had decided she wasn't okey with it anymore. A few minutes ago she gave him her blessing, and now she just wanted to slap someone and cry. It was ridiculous, she was never this indecisive ever in her life. Why was she so angry?

Larie noticed her displeased face and then looked at the messy bed.  
_"Ah. Yeah, let's burn this crap first."_ he concluded, and called the servants to come over.

Rather a dramatic measure, but she was unable to speak up about it. Her tongue was in a knot and she just couldn't be bothered right now. Her mind was stuck on something more important.

What to do?

There was only one thing she ever wanted in life, and that was to be happy, but she wasn't sure what that meant. This was probably why she never set a future for herself. _What would make her happy?_  
At first, it was to make her parents happy, and that meant marrying a prince and uniting their kingdoms, "finally becoming something". And how she fought for that, but it just wasn't enough. Now her parents were gone and there was nobody left to impress. It was obvious that marriage was not something she found important if there was no one to impress. She never felt a connection with the princes she met in her time, and the whole thing was so forced, she didn't associate marriage with anything good for a long time. When people decide that being an unwed, childless virgin is the worst thing in the world, then something's wrong with the people in that world. She no longer wanted to be a part of it or them.  
She made the choice to be alone, and being alone solved the problem of being judged, but it didn't had to be a way of living. Ann was too social for that, she enjoyed company.

She wondered, if Larie would grant her her freedom and would spare her kingdom, would she go back to her old life? Would she go back to her old routine of collecting insects and examining plant life? She enjoyed it, but was it a "future"?  
She didn't think that sharing your life with someone was necessary to feel fulfilled, but she had to ask herself the question if that was what she desired. Her plan to look for a new home intrigued her, because it meant she'd be surrounded by people who she could start a relationship with.

Ann watched the bed getting stripped from its many sheets and replaced by new ones.  
_"Burn it to the ground, I don't even wanna see its ashes!"_ Larie ordered.

The servants then left the room and they were alone again. Larie removed his armor, afterwards his tunic, and lied down on the bed.  
_"There we go!" _he smiled.

She gave him a crooked and short-lived smile back, but didn't join him. Besides that he was lying there bare-chested, exposing her to even more blue hair, her conscience was not yet done explaining to her why she was crazy and had to run for it.

There were alot things considered wrong about her that Larie was fine with, but was she able to do the same for him? A more important question was if Larie deserved forgiveness for his actions. They were inhuman. There were still many things she didn't know about him and probably didn't want to know.  
But was it sensible to say that the reason for his behaviour wasn't exactly his fault?

This horrid royal family had some twisted ideas about how to conceive and raise an heir. If she had any trust in her ability to bear children, she couldn't imagine her offspring going through all that torture, to just end up dead. Larie must've seen unspeakable things and he too must've gone through quite some years filled with sorrow and loneliness.  
What would've become of him if he hadn't come across a simple storybook? He saved this page for all these years, it had to be that one light in his life that prevented him from being completely swallowed by darkness. That, and perhaps the short memory of his two brothers. Without these crucial events, none of the good done by Larie, no matter how few or how normal to the regular person, would've happened. Like the simple act of looking at someone with adoration.

She stared at the boy still waiting for her to join him. He looked so happy, while she was standing there with her mind scrambled.  
_"Hey! Fairy queen! Come lie down with me!"_ he called at her.

What was she to do? She just wasn't able to make up her mind.  
..But didn't that pretty much mean it was already too late for her?

The one who now held her hostage were her own emotions, undecided as they were. It would be so easy to defend her position by describing their relationship as "being given the opportunity to meet a person who wasn't the loud and self-centered prince who scared her with his stares", but who would look at their story and applaud for them. She'd be called a fool with no self-esteem, a silly woman who let herself get swooned by a sad backstory and some pretty words. Maybe that was true. She never had any kind of relationship with anyone before; little compliments and petty actions were glorified by her socially undeveloped brain. It was a miracle she was able to properly converse with people after such a long time of just talking to herself, but it was clear she still lacked certain skills. She was such a sad mess.

Larie's face started to resemble an impatient child who wanted to go out and play. The woman of his dreams was not in his arms and it drove him insane. He decided to get up and go get her himself. He picked her up from the floor and smiled as he woke her up from her trance.

_"Hmmdamn, muffin, you're such a tease!" _he grinned playfully.

_"..Oh. Ah." _she muttered.

_"I love it."_

He lied back down and placed her right next to him, with her head resting on his chest. Saying this was weird was an understatement. But Larie seemed very content with the old woman and had locked her in place with his arm. Or maybe she didn't want to move away. God. She didn't know, as long the gears in her head were still grinding, she would just go ahead and pretend like she had no choice. "Default is 'yes'", like they would say.

Larie's hand moved up and down the side of her body and his smile widened when she looked up at him. She immediately cut off eye contact. Let's not do that again.  
_"This is way more comfy, isn't it?"_ Larie purred.

No. Yes. She didn't know.

_"..If you're not feeling well and you need to be somewhere, just call out to someone. My servants are your servants! You know that, right?"_

Yes. No. She didn't know.

_"You can also call me, if you wanna. I'll carry you all day and night."_

As the future king and leader of countless of armies and countries, surely he had something better to do than carry her all over the place. The offer was endearing, but right now, she didn't want to hear anything endearing from him. She was confused enough the way she was, she didn't want to be seduced by him.  
It wasn't hard to figure out he wanted to do his best, and perhaps make right for all he had done to her. She wondered to herself what he had to do for her to be ready to release herself from all these doubts. Hopefully it didn't come that far.

Please, just let him do something evil, so she could see how stupid she was and leave already.

She liked the idea of him giving up all this killing and intimidation and do good from there on, but considering the training he was exposed to as a child, the most important period of anyone's life, it wasn't likely he could do it even if he wanted to. Now that he and his father had created such a negative reputation for themselves, it was impossible for them to repent and start anew. Everyone who ever heard of their names likely wanted them dead.  
Maybe she had to accept that Larie could never really change, it would just bring his life in peril. He did it to himself, but that fact wouldn't change anything now.

But who knew, maybe she was the one who was wrong. This world was filled with violence and revenge, and maybe she was too much of a dreamer. It is naive to expect a peaceful world. Maybe she had to admit to herself that people die all the time, and for less, and it wasn't Larie who killed them.

She sighed. That didn't took her long at all to start making excuses for a barbaric child. Shame on her.

_"Thank you.."_ she replied.

_"Yeah! Anything!"_ Larie smiled.

At this point she wasn't sure what she thanked him for, as his list of friendly offers had turned into faint sounds in the background, but thanking him was really the only right answer. Whatever the offers may have been.

Larie gently rubbed her bruised shoulder for a while, till he surprised her by asking an irrelevant question:  
_"Can I get rid of your knot?"_

_"My..? Oh, ah. My hair." _she concluded.

It sounded like the start of something she was not ready to decide over yet. It was hard to deny someone something so simple, but this was exactly the problem she was discussing with herself. She was supposed to deny him everything.

_"N-no, you'd better not..I keep it trussed up to prevent my hair from tangling. Especially at night.."_

_"But how can you relax when you're always dressed to go?"_

Because she didn't want to discard the option of getting the heck out of there as soon as possible?  
But Larie put on his most friendly face, and it made her answer appear rather overdramatic. And maybe..maybe it was. There was nothing wrong with untying your hair, right? It was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable, anyway, she felt a headache coming up.

Maybe she was overreacting. Very well.

She fiddled around with her bun a bit, and eventually her hair fell loose. Larie was overcome by ecstasy when he saw the long strands of black hair drop down on the bed, and Ann could hear his heartbeat increase rapidly. Naturally, it reminded him of his fairy queen. It was sweet, she guessed, but this wasn't quite the reaction she was striving for.

_"Can I give you a kiss?"_ he asked.

_"Eh..! I don't know about that.."_ she muttered nervously.

_"Just on the forehead!"_

She didn't want his lips to touch any place of her body, and all this just seemed like a trick to get her to go further every time. He certainly looked like he was planning to get in her dress preferably within 2 minutes. Maybe it was best to leave the room as long she didn't know what opinion to form about him. At least then no harm would be done when she made up her mind and it wasn't positive.

_"..Can I, please?" _Larie continued.

The abuse of the word "please" was almost unforgivable, she was such a sucker for it. Now she'd just sound like a jerk if she said "no". Larie was way too good at this. Or she was just bad.  
Ann thought about it for a while, but she wasn't sure how to reject his request. Generally speaking, a kiss on the forehead didn't mean anything. A parent would kiss their child on the head, it was a very normal act, not something that should escalate. If it did, she knew what she had to do if he aimed lower than her forehead, so..

..maybe she was overreacting. Very well.

Upon getting her silent permission, his face turned gleeful and his lips slowly made contact with her forehead. All was good, nothing strange was happening yet.

He then moved his hands to the back of her head while his kiss continued. It was still a polite kiss, but she didn't fancy her head getting trapped like that. But the kiss had to come to an end soon, so she allowed it.

His hands then moved through her hair as his kiss became more intense. Ann released a confused frown. It very much felt like he was pretending to be on her mouth, he was losing himself already.  
Ann gave him a light push and Larie backed off with a shock, as if she had just punched him in the stomach with an iron fist. He looked extremely disappointed, but his face quickly made room for a reassuring smile. She figured he didn't want to make the situation any more awkward. He restored their previous position on the bed, and there they lied again, like nothing had happened.  
His kiss turned inappropriate fast, but she had to give him points for respecting her space this time. No shoulders were bruised.

They lied silently for a while, but Larie felt restless, which made Ann feel on edge. To whatever question he was going to ask next, the answer had to be "no". He was frenching her forehead and proved to her he was able to sexualize anything he wanted. Her emotions were messing up her judgement, so this wasn't the right time to answer questions or act upon requests. But if she kept telling herself that "maybe she was overreacting", it wouldn't really change her approach.

Ann followed the hand that moved up and down her body. Larie had been doing this for quite a while, she was hardly bothered by it anymore.

Getting accustomed by something she would've called inappropriate a day ago; was she that weak? She didn't think she was that easy to swoon, on the contrary, she always standed her ground and lived up to code. Most would call her boring, even. She didn't need a life filled with mountain climbing and lion wrestling, she had a different opinion on what was exciting. That was probably another reason why most people didn't like her.

But then there was Larie, hard-handed and hot-headed as he was before and is in general, showed control and patience with her. The difference being, of course, that he never disliked her to begin with. He had his struggles, but they weren't over whether or not he liked her, they were over whether he liked her or liked her too much. He had no control over his rough behaviour, as he was always allowed to do whatever he wanted, but now he adjusted himself based on her mood and responses to his actions. In her presence, he was different, because wanted to earn her approval. It was interesting.  
There was more about him than she wanted to give him credit for. Two nights ago she couldn't imagine them lying on a bed together and discovering anything about him that would bring her in such a state of emotional confusion. Those were simpler times with simpler emotions. It was easy to identify "fear", but why was "love" always so puzzling?

Wait..

Did she figure it out?

Was she..  
..was she in "love"?  
Was this the unknown emotion that was haunting her?

_But she didn't want to be in love!_ Why would anyone feel something about someone they didn't want to feel!

Love is basically a mental illness!

She finally understood what her mother meant when she disagreed with her about her view on bonding balls. Marrying someone you had no connection with was terrible, but love had its own downfalls. If you end up falling for the wrong person, you were doomed. What if you love someone who doesn't love you back? What if you love someone who stands for everything you despise? You end up in a limbo of depression that slowly eats away your happiness and sanity. She had already found herself pitying Larie, making excuses for him, and spending more time telling herself not to stay with him than anything else; she was lost far before she understood what was even going on.  
It was no surprise she felt so confused. She never experienced "love" before, as there had never been anyone to love in her life. And it was fantastic! Love just makes people painfully irrational!

Just please, say "no" to whatever he's going to ask next.  
Say "no".

Her skepticism and sense of logic were the only things that knew what was truly right, and she had to listen to it. A relationship like this was wrong and bound to go wrong someday, she had to realise there was no future with him. There were so many reasons why she should walk away from him. "Love" was wasted on this boy.

_"..Can I take off your dress?"_ Larie suddenly asked.

Her eyes widened and her mouth felt like it was glued shut.  
She just had to say "no". This was the moment. She had to do it. She knew she had to do it.

_"You can't keep it on forever, cause..it's bedtime."_ Larie explained.

_"..."_

_"Muffin?"_

_"..Should I..perhaps..stay in a different..room..?"_

_"No? No! Course not, my room's your room! Unless, you know..I bother you.."_

_"Not at all!"_

Darn it, what else could she say! She just couldn't get herself to agree with such a statement, why would she hurt his feelings at a moment like this? But she knew it had more to do with her than with him. She was always stuck walking the path of politeness, it was simply not in her nature to be rude.

_"Then come on, muffin!" _Larie smiled, and sat straight up.

_"S-Surely...you don't want to lay your eyes upon an elderly wom-"_

_"Surely I do! Stop talking like you're 90, you look super tight." _

Her friendly attempts to get herself out of this were futile. Why did she even think an approach like that would work, while it never did?  
Even though Ann wasn't sure what his compliment meant, her face couldn't help itself and was again covered in red. Larie took the colour as the cue to help her out of her dress, and slowly grabbed the ends of it. But before he did anything else, he looked up at her.

_"Don't get scared, okey..? I don't like it when you're scared."_

He then started pulling up her dress. And there was nothing she did about it. She was completely petrified.  
Everything about this felt so strange, so different. She was supposed to say "no", and she hadn't forgotten about it, but she still didn't do it. Why couldn't she do it when the moment was there?  
Before she knew it, she was lying on the bed with nothing but her white slip on.

_"There we go. You're starting to look better every time." _he grinned.

She felt naked. Why did she let it come this far, all of this was so unlike her. Here she was, lying in the arms of a bare-chested teenager, with her legs out in the open. Her parents would be rolling in their graves. They already frowned upon her whenever she wore a dress that exposed as much as her neck, what would they think if they saw her now.  
Ann clumsily tried to pull her legs inside her slip, but Larie grabbed one of them and laid it over his body. His hand then guided itself to her behind and petted it. He gave her an aroused smile.

It felt like her head was about to explode. This whole scene went out of control so fast. She already loosened her hair, let him kiss her forehead, and was stripped from her dress. She was so incredibly manipulable. Just what was the best course of action right now? She could only think of harsh responses that would likely upset Larie, and she didn't want to see him upset. Not because she feared for her life anymore, but just because..she didn't want to see him upset.  
But this was her last chance. It would help if Larie requested nothing from her anymore, and just stayed on his back until he fell asleep, but that was probably not going to happen. He knew he had her in the palm of his hand, he managed to make her do all his bidding. She just wasn't strong enough to directly reject him.  
But this wasn't going to end if she wasn't loud and clear enough. She almost wasn't sure if she was too nice to reject him or she simply wanted this to happen. Did she wanted this to happen? But she just told herself she didn't want this to happen, therefore she didn't, right..?

Please. For the last time, listen to your conscience..

She wanted no more sweet voices, no more sweet eyes, no more sweet touches, they both had to make an end to this. She just had to push him away and not stare him directly in his eyes. She had to stand her ground for once. The next thing she had to say was "no". It had to be a "no".

Say "no".

_"..Can I have sex with you..?"_ he asked.


	16. Decisively Ever After

Ann strolled through the long and quiet hallways. There wasn't a single person to be seen or heard. Not that she minded, she preferred quiet mornings.  
She would have stayed in bed longer today, but Larie asked her to come see him whenever she was willing to get up. She had no idea what for, but hopefully it didn't involve anything too physically demanding. Her body was stiff and slow today. But her mind at ease.

It was typical, but everything around her looked so inviting now. The sun coming in from the windows felt warm onto her skin. She was probably going to regret having this mentality, but for now, things were perfect in her eyes. Why not enjoy it as long she still could.  
The long night had cured her from her neverending heart- and headaches, and she felt calm. Questions were still lingering in the back of her head, but they didn't matter that much anymore. She was tired of overthinking everything. She wanted to officially start this life that so many people before her were blessed with. After her first taste of company she was sure she'd never able to let go of the concept of togetherness. To meet someone who made that concept work proved to be rare. She was going to cherish it. This once eery castle was now her home.

Ann reached the large castle entrance and saw many guards standing outside. It was no wonder the castle was empty. As she came closer she heard Larie's voice. It sounded angry and demanding.  
She decided to stop and wait at the door opening, it didn't sound like a conversation she was supposed to interrupt. Larie's back was turned to her as he was scolding the guards, all with facial expressions that varied between fearful and disappointed. So much for her quiet morning.

_"I TOLD YOU TARDS TO GRAB EVERYTHING! I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT, YOU DO IT!"_

_"Your majesty, it will take a while..."_

_"YOU HAD TWO NIGHTS AND A DAY! YOU SAYING THAT'S UNREASONABLE? YOU SAYING I'M UNREASONABLE?"_

_"No, no, your majesty!"_

She had no idea what the conversation was about, but there was no time to think about it. Larie had already lost his patience with the spokesman and drawn his sword. The man flinched and fell on his knees as Larie headed towards him with the long blade shimmering in the early sunlight.  
Seeing how again nobody stood up for a victim of Larie's was hard to bear, but as these were Larie's own men, she guessed standing up against your master was not an option ever. It was up to her to jump in.

_"LARIE!" _she shrieked.

Larie stopped and turned his head toward the entrance, where Ann was standing. His eyes looked empty and his face devoided of life. Ann wasn't sure what else to say or do, and instead just stood still and awaited his response. He stared at her for three seconds and then "snapped out of it".

_"Baby! You're awake! And you're wearing the dress I left you!"_ he smiled happily. He returned his sword in its sheath and walked up to her, like nothing had happened.

She knew she was a bit too optimistic this morning, but to have seen that face this soon in the game was rather disappointing. Larie was still Larie, even after everything.  
It felt like such a long time ago she saw him like this, she had almost forgotten. His tic was hard to understand, but easy to explain. One moment his face was drenched in darkness, the next it was shining brighter than the sun, like a little person inside his head who keeps flipping the mood switch.

She didn't know what more to say to him, his eyes were now filled with joy and he fully ignored the soldier on the ground who's life had flashed before his eyes. She just had to let it slide for the moment, these kind of subjects were best discussed at a later time. Larie appeared fine now.

_"This is kinda the wrong 'outside', but good you came, I have a present for you here as well!" _he continued.

_"..Oh my, you shouldn't have."_

_"But I should've did!" _he replied. He walked off and came back with a huge white horse.

_"Oh d-dear..I don't..That's not the gift, is it?"_

_"It's either yours or the kitchen's."_

_"But I don't know how to ride.."_

_"..But you do know how to ride." _he grinned.

Ann covered her mouth in embarrassment, but none of the guards dared to respond in a way that could end them up dead. But well, they still had their thoughts in which they could laugh their asses off.

"_Larie, please..! Don't reference our consummation in company..!"_

_"I can teach you to ride whenever, it's not hard, babe."_ Larie reassured her. He handed the reins over to her and headed back to the guards. _"I'm almost done, don't go riding off yet!" _he called back at her.

Ann looked at the frighteningly large animal beside her. The horse was completely white, matching her dress, had very long manes, but a short tail. It was quite heavy, and to think that she was holding it with a piece of leather wasn't comforting her. It it were to run, it would rip her arm clean off. But it appeared very docile. Bored, even.  
Judging by the horse's garment, it belonged to another kingdom once. Perhaps a farm. It looked nothing like what the other horses were wearing. It was probably one of the few things Larie had claimed when gone raiding, but it sounded like he originally claimed it for dinner. She was happy to have saved this animal's life.

_"Are you happy?"_

Ann jumped up in surprise and saw Larie standing next to her again. That was way too quick for any human being.

_"Ehm.." _she began, after she cleared her throat, _"Well..this is quite the responsibility! I have never been offered an organism of such awe-inspiring proportion to nurture! Never mind a specimen from the valued Equidae family. I'm intrigued by the upcoming illuminating experiences this grotesque young mare will introduce me to."_

_"..Wha..what?"_ the poor boy stammered, as he squinted his eyes while trying to comprehend what was just said.

_"..That I'd be glad to take care of this beautiful horse, sweetheart. I am happy." _she smiled motherly.

When his ears finally met with words he knew, his facial expression relaxed and he held the skinny woman against his chest.

_"You talk weird."_

_"I apologise.."_

_"I love it."_

Her often unnecessary use of big words was enough to annoy any normal human being, and from a person like Larie she expected him to at least feel mocked by her vocabulary and go on some kind of rage. No one wants to feel dumb, after all. But her rambling did something for him.  
Who knew, maybe he'd pick up a few words. He would probably use them to deliberately irritate people, but she could see the humor in that. It's a victimless crime, after all.

_"But enough aluminium experiences, follow me to the backyard!" _Larie said.

She didn't remember seeing a backyard around, neither did she ever assume there was one. The castle was a giant brick and the landscape surrounding it existed out of tall grass. Where exactly was this backyard? Hopefully they didn't have to go all the way to the back of the castle, that would be a distance she wasn't ready to walk.  
After they had gone through a few doors, they were suddenly standing in a fully decorated garden. It was big, but surrounded by stone walls, suggesting they were still inside the castle. There was no roof above them, and the incoming sunlight almost made the place look magical. It reminded her of home. The colourful trees and flowers looked familiar as well.

_"What an extraordinary place..!"_ she gasped, _"Thank you for sharing it with me."_

_"Sharing? This stuff's yours."_

_"Are you giving me your garden?"_

_"No, this stuff's yours, we nabbed it from your place. There's never been anything in this spot before, we just slammed this together yesterday."_

Ann looked around. It looked amazing for a short-term project. Upon taking a second look, these were indeed the flowers and trees that grew in her kingdom, but they were arranged differently from what she was used to, of course.  
It looked like the guards also took with some of the insects during transportation, which made her eager to jump in there and collect them all. It went without saying, she was very excited.

_"Thank you very much, this is truly breathtaking."_

_"No you."_ Larie grinned.

_"..Thank you?"_

_"And you better take care of it, I'm not doing it. Is boring."_

_"Don't say that, you should join me sometime. I could teach you so much." _she smiled._  
_

_"Ew, I'm outta here."_ Larie hissed.

_"Think of all the fun experiments we can perform with these plants! For example, I've been attempting to genetically dye roses, it'll be so much f-"_

_"OUTTA HERE."_

And with that, Larie ran off, but not without giving her a quick wink before he completely disappeared. Ann couldn't help but giggle at the boy, who speeded away as if listening to the possibility of gaining knowledge alone would set him in flames. This really wasn't something for him, and she knew that very well. She just would've liked it if he at least stayed around while she was doing her thing- if they had something they could do together.  
Now that he was gone, she couldn't help put feel a bit sad. Like she missed him already.

It surprised her. She didn't think that she'd still be so encumbered by these kind of "misplaced" feelings. She had hoped that her full sense of logic would've returned the moment she fell asleep in his bed, which really proved she knew nothing about the emotion that haunted her. Maybe she just had to accept that this was what love was. As long she felt like this, perhaps it was a good thing.  
What a torture.

But it was not a bad idea to keep an eye on him whenever she could. If she was able to prevent him from drawing any weapons on people, that might help him grow up to be a more reasonable person towards others. Maybe that was a better idea than to be insultingly direct. What was she planning to say to him, anyway? "Hey Larie, I noticed you're batshit, you need to stop that"? His lifelong training couldn't be made undone by one sentence. But there was time, she just had to be that unconscious positive influence.  
She still believed that the chance of him getting fully cured was nihil, and for his own safety, she couldn't demand him to stop fighting, but surely he could be taught not to slaughter those who weren't able to do his exact bidding. Hopefully Larie would surprise her in the near future.

Ann decided to have a short stroll through her freshly stolen garden. When she came closer to inspect the plants, it appeared they had suffered some damage after all. Some of the leafs on the trees were missing or dying and many flowers looked like they were still sleeping, which was strange, as the place was fully lit. Larie's men probably were too rough-handed with them during transportation.  
She ducked down and examined a couple of flowers. She wasn't sure what to do, they didn't look dead. She certainly knew what a sleeping flower looked like. Out of lack of understanding she decided to poke it, and surprisingly enough, the flower opened itself. Apparently they just needed a small budge? She grabbed a nearby stick and planned on speeding up the process by walking past with the stick hitting them on the way, but it didn't work. Of course.

This was going to be a long day.

After what felt like at least an hour, most of the flowers had met with her "healing touch" and even the trees looked improved. Her knees were killing her, but to see the place so alive was nice. As beautiful as it looked first, now there were no words good enough to describe it. If Larie saw this, surely it would motivate him to stay around next time. She could've used his fingers today, and if the same problem occurred tomorrow, she wondered if she could do all this again. On the other hand, she didn't feel much for going around poking flowers every morning. Maybe then it would be time for a different hobby.

Ann dropped herself on the ground and let out a deep sigh. She was ready to fall asleep right there, but as she had only been awake for an hour, she figured that would be a waste.  
She looked at the roses sitting in the back. They were all red. She preferred to experiment on the white ones, as they were easier to work with, but it looked like the guards didn't take any. She could've made Larie a blue rose, resembling his messy hair. Blue roses didn't exist in nature, he would've loved it. Boys like roses, right?

_"Morning to you, broomy." _a voice greeted her from behind.

Ann looked up and saw king Bobby towering over her. She immediately got up and straightened up her dress. While she had no intention to give her respects to the man who was the cause of Larie's suffering, to fight at their first private meeting was not wise. She tried to suppress her disapproving frown the best she could, and gave him a bow.

_"Ah..your majesty."_ she said formally.

_"Oh, NOW you're bowing for me. Finally remembered I'm a king, huh?" _king Bobby replied._  
_

_"Oh my, I didn't mean to..eh..You are correct, do excuse my behaviour." _she mumbled. Even though she was royalty herself and had not received the same treatment from him, there was no point in arguing.  
The king smirked and then headed off to the other side of the garden. He casually walked along the plants and started ripping off their leafs during his stroll. He wasted no time to be a bother to her.

_"Oh no, I get it, it's hard to remember these kind of things when you have other stuff on your mind. Like, being kidnapped."_

_"Still, I should..take..responsibility for..my..rudeness.."_ Ann replied, as she watched the king slowly destroy her garden.

_"Yeah. Yeah, you should."_

He stopped assaulting the plants and looked at her. Ann wasn't sure what he was waiting for, so said nothing. Then king Bobby realized she had already apologized, and he smiled and walked back to her.  
Ann took a few steps back as the heavily armored king approached her. Obviously, she didn't trust the intentions behind his visit much.

_"Cute garden you got here." _he said.

_"Thank you, your majesty." _she replied, while fiddling her fingers.

_"Last time there was only dirt. And the occasional dead guy. Like, 80 of them."_

_"Oh.."_

_"You see, before, this place was like our prison."_

_"I see.."_

_"There's nothing funnier than locking up a guy who feels like he has a chance to escape, hence the open roof."_

_"Ehm.."_

_"At least, I thought it was funny."_

"..."

_"But I guess Larie has a different sense of humor, since the torture garden is now a miniature forest for his..lovely girlfriend.. and the basement__ a replica of Hell_ for the future guests. MY basement. Which was once MY private quarters. But watcha gonna do, right?"

_"Eh. Ah, your majesty, that is...quite the..story you chose to share with me."_

_"I know, right! If you like this place, you should totally check out the dungeon! It's a masterpiece."_

_"..Is it nice?"_

_"Fuck no! But it'll tell you all you need to know about your 'sweetheart'. Wanna make it a date with me?"_

She gave him a confused stare. Why was he here? Did he just visit her to wreck her garden out of spite because his basement got rebuilt or was he still trying to break her and Larie apart in the most elaborate way possible? Nevertheless, he acted like a small child over both subjects. It probably stung him extra hard that she chose to be with his son. He certainly looked two blinks away from punching her in the face.

_"I'll have to decline, your majesty..I have a lot to attend to." _Ann said.

_"Is it more important than knowing the sick fuck you're letting yourself get banged by?"_

_"Your majesty!"_

The sudden personal attack caught her off-guard. The conversation made her nervous enough, but the direction it was going to showed his true intention. The king was out to harass her and she was not in the mood for it. This was a conversation she had to walk away from, Larie just had to deal with this later.

_"I think I should go!" _she said nervously.

She grabbed the sides of her dress and prepared herself to sprint away. Seeing his face alone made her furious, and she never intended to ever act all casual with this horrible man. It was hardly a conversation, she had to bite her tongue the whole way through, she had nothing good to say to him. He was pure evil, yet here he was, calling Larie the sick one. She had to get out of there, before she would lose her temper with him. But when her hand reached the gate, king Bobby suddenly called after her.

_"Do you remember when you tried to run off?"_

Ann was petrified on the spot. This was not good. Did he plan to use that against her all this time? It was best not to reply directly, so she said nothing and instead waited for the king to get to the point.

_"Yeah, you do. I thought you were pretty smart, but then you started spreadin' it for that kid. How desperate are you, broomy? Why are you spreadin' it?"_

She knew king Bobby was just out to get her, but to hear him question her decision like that made her upset. Maybe she was more crazy than she wanted to admit, but she had to recognize Larie was her definition of "happiness". It was sad, but it happened to work out for her. She couldn't help it, she was happy.  
Who was king Bobby to criticize their relationship? He didn't know anything about them. Why was it not alright for someone to love the person who makes them feel valuable? Larie was good to her and she wanted to help him improve his behaviour for the good of everyone; both of them could only go forward from this point on. What help has king Bobby been? How dare he scold her.  
He had to know that Larie was not a lost cause. Larie was better than his monstrous upbringing. Better than him.

_"..Your majesty, I understand you disapprove, but I came to discover-"_

_"You didn't discover balls." _he interrupted her._  
_

_"He is more than you give him credit for, I have met his better side.."_

_"You're gonna see shit one day and he's gonna kill you for it."_

The fact he sounded so serious was disturbing, but surely he understood that she knew he had no reason to give her such a warning. None of it made sense.  
It became clear that the king was impossible to convince and that the discussion was one-sided, but he likely didn't show up to be convinced. If this was an act, then he came to convince her. But she knew more than king Bobby did, so all of it just fell flat. It soothed her that he had nothing new or useful to tell her, but she didn't want to have these pointless conversations all throughout her life with a spiteful king. What if it came to the point where she would doubt everything around her because of the eternal lies and cheap attempts of king Bobby? She couldn't imagine so, but persistence tends to have an effect on people.

She couldn't take his warning seriously, but was curious to know what exactly he would tell her if she asked for an explanation. How far had he studied this act of false sympathy? Unless the king's explanation was not worth thinking about, it would help to ask more, she'd be able to check the facts. Larie wouldn't lie to her if she asked for a confirmation.

_"If this is truly important, then please.." _Ann urged.

_"Hey, I'll spare your little ears the details, just know you need to move your legs outta here. I'd hate to see such a nice lady like yourself surrounded by more of him." _he said with a slimy voice._  
_

_"More?"__  
_

_"Yeah, his bastard kids."_

_"Ah.. Your worries are misplaced."__  
_

_"Are they?" _king Bobby replied with a sudden serious tone,_ "The slave chicks were always sterilized so that dickface would die childless and spare us from any more shit..goddamnit.. Are you sterilized?"_

The king then didn't say anything for a little while. He was gone in his own thoughts, whatever they were about.

Was this the reason for his disapproval? It couldn't be. The king was angry with Larie because he chose her; she was too old for him, too old to give birth. It's never been about Larie, she was the issue. She was the "old hag".  
It already sounded like king Bobby was grasping at straws, anything to break her and Larie up. She was probably his only hope of succeeding after Larie continuously ignored his lies. It was sad and she was tired of listening to him. The fact he didn't give her an actual answer when she asked for more details said enough. He tried to clumsily come across as a concerned friend, but surely he knew she was smarter than that. Ann certainly had no intention to be played by him like this.

_"..Anyway.."_ he continued, _"Just saying you might wanna return the wedding dress."_

_"Your majesty, I don't understand why you're telling me this."_

_"Then don't, whatever."_

King Bobby then walked away without saying another word. He sounded fed up by her and the conversation.

When he was completely out of sight, Ann dropped herself onto one of the nearby boulders in the garden, and sat there for a while. Why was it so impossible to live one day in peace around these people? Her heart was beating like mad, but it was not of fear. Well, a little, but it was mainly hatred. As much as people used to give her a reason to hate in the past, she never felt hateful over someone before. She thought it was a wasted emotion, nothing ever gets solved by hating someone. But this lousy excuse for a king, he deserved nothing less.  
But she had to be the better person of the two, and she decided not to tell Larie about this meeting. His solutions were never in tune with hers. King Bobby was a soulless man, but death was not a proper punishment.

As long she had legs, she just had to avoid him.


	17. Secretly Ever After

A week had passed, and it went without saying there was never a boring day with the two men Ann was now sharing her life with. Larie and his father, king Bobby, were often verbally fighting each other, though, the king always walked away when things started to escalate. She wasn't sure why a man that loud had so little courage.  
It looked like he tried to avoid Larie most of the day, but some moments were impossible to walk away from, like dinner time. The king would just be sitting alone, scowling at the prince acting lovey-dovey with his lady at the other side of the table.

Larie was still as charming to her as he was on her first day in the castle. Nothing had changed, and it confirmed that the king's words from a week ago were again just a mean attempt to break them apart. He was probably still trying to change Larie's mind behind the scenes as well, but Larie never talked about the conversations he and his father had. In many ways, he didn't acknowledge his father's existence, he wasn't a subject for conversation ever. He only cared about her and bestowing her with many pointless gifts. Ann didn't know how often she had to ask him to stop it, but he wasn't able to do it. He had devoted an entire room to her gifts, it was like a shrine to her.  
By this time her garden was also complete, but as her kingdom was obviously bigger than the space the garden offered, most of the plants and trees were planted around the castle as well. It made the place look a whole lot nicer, but it was a strange thought that they had completely dug out her home. What would her kingdom look like now? Probably a sad wasteland, covered in hoof prints. She was surprised she hadn't held Larie back from destroying her home. Not that it wasn't already too late to hold him back.  
She just had to accept it as convenient. The distance between both kingdoms was just too great, and this way their kingdoms were united. In a very literal way.

The plant life seemed to do it fairly good. It wasn't always sunny and warm, like it was in her kingdom, but she saw none of the trees or flowers bite the dust just yet. They all needed her touch just once, and afterwards they looked fully accustomed to their new environment. She still didn't understand how that worked, but Larie was convinced it was because she was the fairy queen. His touch didn't wake up any flowers, so he was sure of it. She wanted to think it was because the plants "knew" her, but fine, she'd take that explanation. It didn't make less sense than hers.

In the past few days Larie taught her how to ride a horse, which was rather difficult on such a large beast. In return for his patience, she attempted to make him stay for biology lessons, which was rather difficult, since it was Larie.  
Her white roses arrived early and she was able to pick up the dye experiment she had been busy with, and hoped Larie paid some attention to it, but he never looked impressed and often left to do something else. She tried her best to use simple words and to make it all look exciting, but he simply didn't care for it. Flowers weren't manly.

In this eventful week she also took the opportunity to talk with him about his "protocol" of killing everyone in sight in the most inhumane way possible, but she didn't expect him to agree with her right away. He believed it was necessary in order to gain respect. Eventually she made the request to join him on his raids, but he declined; he didn't want to risk her life. Neither did she, but maybe it would be easier for her to note him on his behaviour if she was with him on these instances. After all, she managed to save that king's life back at the bonding ball. A very small and unimpressive victory, considering the deaths that still occurred, but that king could've met his end that night as well. Ann believed she could do more.

Next to Larie, the castle staff also treated her well, but Ann knew they were not approving her presence. Because she always experienced Larie's good and playful side, unlike them, she could only return these feelings, and naturally their surroundings were criticizing it.  
On one hand there was king Bobby and his scowls, but Ann's sharp eye was also able to catch the reactions of some of the guards and servants. Not just concerning her love for "the psychopathic and unreformable Larie", but her age also played a role. Some servants seemed to have trouble keeping a straight face when handing over certain gifts from Larie, like clothes that were obviously for a girl of a fairer age.  
Even though Larie suggested her to tell on everyone who did something out of line, she kept quiet. Nobody deserved death over this and she had to realise that they weren't exactly wrong.  
But this was the path she chose, and she had to bear with the consequences. It was fine.

Even so, her happiness was fragile, and the conversation with king Bobby from a week ago still bothered her. Larie proved himself to her and treated her like a goddess, she wanted that to be enough, but her curiosity urged her to want to know more. While she doubted that the king's warnings were serious, she knew she still had to ask some unpleasant questions someday.  
King Bobby was abusing her ignorance, so he'd be the last person to ask. She wanted to ask Larie, as he knew she cared about the truth. Maybe he'd use a set of different words to describe something, but he still told her like it was. Like the origin of most of her gifts. It made her shudder, but honesty was admirable.

_"Still here, broomy?"_

Ann turned around and saw king Bobby enter the dining room. She then looked at the tea in her hands. It was cold. Looks like she was lost in her thoughts again, big surprise. That's what you get for growing up in solitude.  
The whole table was cleared out after breakfast, and only she, a fancy-looking water kettle, and a cup of untouched tea had remained in the room. Who knew how long she had been sitting there. But since the king was now in the room with her, it was her cue to leave.

_"Dear me.. Looks like I lost track of time.. I suppose I'd better be going, I have a garden to safekeep." _she smiled nervously, and stood up.

_"Hey, what's the hurry, don't you have better things to do than water the crap Larie dragged this way?" _the king asked with a jokey voice.

_"..These plants originated from my kingdom.."_

_"And my question still stands."_

She stared at the king blocking the exit, waiting for him to move out of the way. He tried to come across "friendly", but she didn't want to talk to him, he was hardly good company. He had already insulted the only thing that had kept her entertained throughout her entire life, so there was probably more where that came from.  
But before she could even raise her foot to take the first step towards the exit, the king started to move and headed right towards her. Again, she took a few steps back as he approached.

_"Calm your mosquito bites, I'm not gonna eat you." _he grinned.

_"Then please, do not test my courage..! I can tell you right away there is none to be found within a woman of my posture!" _Ann said with a warning voice. Admitting you are weak didn't exactly qualify as a threat, but there was no way to be threatening towards a man like him, anyway.

_"Hush there, you're so defensive! Yeah, I said a few things, you said a few things.."_

_"But I haven't said anything about y-"_

_"..but it's all water under the bridge! My 'darling' daughter-in-law.."_

Ann inspected the man standing a few breaths away from her. As he had the same lazy smile on his face like the one his son often had, it was hard to determine what was going on inside his head. But she was not interested in knowing. If she wanted to get out of there, she had to play along.

_"Ah, yes, of course, your majesty. I see no reason for us to stay divided."_

_"Why run from the facts, am I right?"_

_"Indeed. Now, if you'll excuse me.."_

_"Can't excuse you if we're not done talking."_

King Bobby placed his large hand on the table in order to imprison her between him and the table. While she still had her left side free to squeeze herself out of the human prison, he pinned her in place with his penetrating eyes.

_"What is it?" _Ann asked hastily.

_"Just making sure we're on the same page here." _he replied, while his other hand moved up disturbingly close to her face. She quickly avoided the hand closing near. She didn't know what he was trying to do, but whether he was going to hit her or grab her neck, she didn't want to find out.

_"I'm not following you, your majesty, but I'll let you know this setting fills me with perturbation!"_

_"Sounds dirty."_

_"It's very serious. Please, state your business."_

_"Hey, no need to get snippy!" _he barked.

_"..Excuse me. Please, enlighten me about the intention of your visit." _she corrected herself.

The king then placed his other hand on the table, and now had her completely locked in. His hips moved playfully from the left to the right, while his eyes looked up, as he tried to find his words.

_"Hmmmwell, I just noticed how you and Larie are still living happily ever after. It almost looks like you didn't listen to me last time.. Like you're 'running from the facts'? Just a tiny bit, though."_

_"I see." _Ann replied, _"Well, I made a tough, but final decision concerning your son, and it's one I do not regret, nor ever want to regret."_

_"So, what you're saying is: 'I just flipped the coin on this and I'm sticking with it, cause that's easiest'?"_

_"Wh.. No! I've considered all the factors I'm familiar with and based my judgement on that. That is the honest truth!"_

_"You're familiar with the tip of the iceberg, broomy."_

_"As long no one shares more information with me, this is all I can do, your majesty.."_

_"So, you admit you don't know everything, yet you think you know enough? Can't you at least keep your cooch away from him?"_

_"Your majesty! Please, you're embarrassing me!" _she gasped.

_"Well, we don't want that.." _he grinned, as his hips swayed around again.

The situation turned less pleasant with every second. The last thing she wanted was a new sadist in her life who kicked on making her feel uncomfortable.  
Ann dropped herself down on the table and scooted back a little, in order to create more distance between her and the king, but king Bobby didn't allow it and followed her. A mistake was easily made, and now she was stuck in another locked position that could've been taken out of context.

_"E-Euhm..your majesty, if you'd please..step back a little..?"_ she stuttered. But King Bobby's face moved closer and closer, and eventually she could feel his breath hit her skin. Ann quickly turned her head away from him.

_"Your majesty-this is most inappropriate-please respect my personal space-thank you!" _she rambled.

What was his deal, was he going to assault her? She looked at the door and hoped Larie would appear and save her, but she had been alone in this room for such a long time, he was probably not even aware she was still sitting here. It was also not helpful that the dining room never had any guards stationed in it, but she wondered if they would protect her from their own employer. Likely not.

How did she keep entering these kind of situations? Was there some kind of sign nailed to her forehead that said "Please, freak me out"? She started to think so. If he kept it up, she was forced to tell Larie about it. She feared for her life when she was alone with this man. She didn't want to admit it, but she could've known that he was nothing but a nuisance in everyone's life. Larie already wanted nothing to do with him and she couldn't blame him. He was the reason for all his pain. He was the villain in this story. King Bobby did not only mentally destroy him, he was attempting to do the same to her.  
For all she knew this clumsy way of trying to talk her out of staying was his way of making her drop her guard. While he was breathing on her face, what plan was fermenting inside his head? He was so close to her, she could actually count the hairs in his eyebrows.  
She couldn't stop hoping for Larie to barge in and get him off of her.

Please, Larie..  
Hurry up..  
Please, come through that door..!  
He had to be looking for her right now, he had to be here soon!  
Please, dearest Larie..

...

...

_"..Why do you like the little fuck so much..?"_ king Bobby whispered_._

Ann opened her eyes and looked up. Did king Bobby just say something?  
_"..Excuse me?" _she replied._  
_

_"Why would you choose Larie, but not me..? I looked out for you all this time."_


End file.
